


Commander Stark

by wifeofstark



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Casual Sex, Eventual Smut, Gatsby but Tony's Gatsby and Stephen is Nick and the mansion is a spaceship, Guardians of the Galaxy - Freeform, IronStrange, M/M, Mass Effect x MCU, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn, Songs about sex but in space, Space AU, Stephen pov, Violence, basically another fic where i appreciate tony for 10+ chapters, cut up the mcu timeline and stuck it back together in the order i wanted, lots of bodysuits yum, mostly follows avengers assemble storyline, so many characters - Freeform, stephen is the new guy, tony is the baddest mf, you dont have to have played ME to read this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:27:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 53,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24525358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wifeofstark/pseuds/wifeofstark
Summary: “Oh I came in because I was downstairs and a guy called, he said he was Commander Stark”“Commander? Of what, the clown police?”Stephen looks back on that remark and feels like a fool, because as it turns out the Commander has a spaceship.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 58
Kudos: 122





	1. CDR Stark

**Author's Note:**

> OMG FKIN FINALLY. I've had this fic sitting around collecting dust for days due to technical issues but it's finally hereeee. I'M BUZZING FOR YOU GUYS TO TREAD THIS, I'm so happy with the concept and it was the most passionate I've been writing since Songs About Sex. If you give anything of mine a chance, pls make it this. 
> 
> This is in the tags but I'll restate that this world is fused with the world of the game Mass Effect but you don't even need to have heard of it to read this, it just uses locations, mechanics and references from that world. 
> 
> Lastly, we are in terrible times right now, and while I hope this can distract you from how sad the world is don't stop learning about and fighting against the racial divide in our society. BLM.

The door of his study breezes open and Wong hisses at the sight of him. Stephen looks up from the three books he’s reading and touches gently at the wound above his brow. It’s bleeding again. 

“Loki clobbered me with his stupid gold ceptre”

“Loki? Odin's son Loki?”

“The same one, he came to Earth through the Tesseract” It happened only the night before, he came back to the sanctum once it was done, splashed some water on his wound and proceeded to stay up all night trying to find a way to make sure Loki is never a problem again. 

“Oh that's very bad. Where’s the cube? And Loki?”

“Nick Fury has it in a very secure Shield vault, I made sure he put it there. As for Loki, I sent him back through the portal he came out of. He’s an idiot, ‘I’m burdened with glorious purpose’” he mocks the man's voice, ending his interpretation with a huff. Glorious purpose or not, Stephen has a problem on his hands.

“You sound pretty annoyed”

“He said he’s going to bring an army Wong. And I don’t know what to do” he falls back into his chair so heavily the wind knocks out of him. 

“From where? His own people wouldn’t attack Earth”

“I don’t know” he grits out, watching his hands as they shake twice the amount they usually do. He doesn’t know anything, Loki could be back in a fortnight with enough fighters to take down earth in ten minutes and he wouldn't have a clue. 

“Oh I came in because I was downstairs and a guy called, he said he was Commander Stark”

“Commander? Of what, the clown police?”

“No of Shield” Wong says plainly. That makes sense, he’s on Fury’s radar now. “Do you know him?”

“Of course not, if I did I would know what he was the Commander of” he goes to turn the page of one of his books but retracts his hand when he remembers there’s blood on his fingers. 

“You’re annoying this morning, get some sleep” that said, Wong returns to the doorway. 

“I am trying to stop an army from invading earth Wong!”

“Let’s both do that, take a two hour nap first though”

Stephen takes a much needed shower and tends to his cut properly, disinfecting and slapping a plaster over it. In the mirror a tired man watches him, a man who hates not knowing and is suffering for it. 

Loki is the first enemy he’s faced that instead of from another dimension is from another realm, and he has plenty of books at his disposal that cover the nine realms but the multiverse is so much more than that, he has to protect one little planet among a black sea of countless star systems. He’s no match for the infinite unknown. 

Stephen tries to sleep, and it's a poor attempt, he doesn’t feel rested at all when he goes to find Wong in the artifact room. His only two friends, Wong and his cloak, notice it and don’t look very impressed. Regardless, he and Wong brainstorm. Stephen wouldn’t call it fruitful, they’re stumped on Loki’s motive for attacking earth and they have too many possible army choices, many of them baseless if they were to admit it to themselves. 

The sound of a knock on the sanctum doors cuts the frustration growing on them. The two of them look at eachother, because no one just knocks on a Sanctum door. Sanctums are designed to be unseen to those who aren’t looking for them, and if they have a guest from the Masters they don’t come through the front doors. 

Stephen leads the way, jogging down the stairs and stopping at the door. The Sanctum isn’t wringing any warning bells so he carefully opens the door, just a crack, enough to see who's on the other side. It’s a man, he looks normal enough, if a little obnoxious in a leather jacket and sunglasses. “Can I help you?”

“Are you Stephen Strange?”

“Who’s asking?”

The man reaches under his white top and shows him dog tags, the one with the Shield logo on it flips over in the wind and it has an A on the other side, with an arrow pointing down at the tail of the letter. “Commander Stark, Shield. Can I come in?”

Stephen looks back at Wong, who shrugs. “Shield knows about you now” 

They do. Unfortunately. Stephen sighs, opens the door, and steps back.

Sunset floods the entry orange and Stark comes in with a wide step, as if he’s walking into his own house. He whips his glasses off and flashes a showman's smile, “You and I need to chat doctor”

“I’m a little busy, but please” Stephen commands the doors to swing shut and waits to hear what the king of clowns has to say. 

“I watched the security footage from last night, you’re good” 

“No I will not work for Shield” he had to say the same to Fury. Government regulation is the last thing he needs in his line of work. 

Stark holds the arm of his glasses between his teeth, narrowing his eyes like he’s trying to figure him out. “Stephen would you say Loki is a person of interest to you?”

“Yes he’s drop dead gorgeous” he says planely.

The Commander smiles a little at that, “I shouldn't be saying much without an NDA but I know you’re… unique. So, here’s why I’m here, I’ve been tasked to stop Loki and you dealt with him like it was childsplay. We need you” 

“You? Stop Loki? He’s a god you know” Stephen has the upper hand against many opponents thanks to the types of powers he has at his disposal, he can restrain and expel. His strength is in avoiding the fight rather than serving blows, not that he can't if he needs to.

This Stark character however might seem larger than life at a glance but he also seems unremarkable at a second glance. He’s no Captain America and he doesn't seem inhuman either, just a regular, probably in his 30’s, man. 

“I’m just the guy in charge, I have people working with me that would impress even you” Stark explains, gesturing wide. He’s good at taking up space, maybe it comes with not being very tall. 

“Alright, tell me how you’re planning to ‘stop’ him” he's very interested to hear what the guy’s going to say, it could be ridiculous or it could surprise him.

“Well Loki is just lashing out, what we need to do is stop his army, the Chitauri, from invading Earth”

Just like that, in a casual explanation, he's been given what he's been ripping his hair out trying to find out. “How do you know all this?” 

“I bumped into his brother, we had an awesome fight and then he told me he wants to stop Loki and now we’re allies” Stark shrugs. 

“You fought Thor and lived?” Wong asks, sounding as disbelieving as Stephen feels. The guy doesn’t even look injured. 

“Yeah, he destroyed my suit though, big brute” the man mutters. 

Stephen throws his hands up and shakes his head, because little of what he's hearing makes any sense, “Sorry, what am I missing here?”

“I’m the Commander of a spaceship, the head of Shields ‘off world’ division of you will”

Weirdly that helps him put things together. Predictably it also raises too many questions.

"Let me understand this, you want to recruit me to come onto your… spaceship in order to go defeat the Chitauri?" 

Stark claps his hands together. "Exactly!"

"Wouldn't that take years? It seems counter intuitive" he would be much better off staying on Earth in wait for the attack. 

"No you see in all the major star systems we have Mass Relays, they allow you to ping from relay to relay in seconds. This tour wouldn't last much longer than a month as long as we don't face complications" Stark explains, his round eyes shining. Stephen recognises it, it's the sign of an intellectual, someone who loves knowledge. 

"Who built these relays?" He asks. 

"An ancient alien race"

"Is outer space, like, developed?" Wong isn’t hiding his interest as well as Stephen is. 

"Yes it is sir" Stark smiles, his eyes crinkle at the edges.

Stephen has so many questions, he doesn't even know where to start. Before he can formulate one though a switch flips in his head. "Hold on. You could be a crazy person who's deluded themselves into thinking they're a Commander of a spaceship because they like Star Wars too much"

"You're cautious, I like it. But I assure you that's not my flavour of crazy" he reaches into his back pocket and produces a black card with a red stripe at the top. It's an ID. 

Stephen flicks his fingers and the card floats out of the mans hand so he can pluck it out of the air. As they were assured the card reads ‘CDR Anthony E. Stark’ next to a picture of him. His hair was longer and darker when it was taken but it is the same man standing across from him. 

He hands the card back. "Okay Mr Stark. This was fun, but I'm the master of this Sanctum, it's my duty to protect it"

"Can I go instead?" 

"Wong!"

Stark chuckles and takes something out of his inner pocket. It's a metal frame with nothing in it. "You know what, take this, it's a run down of what you'd be committing to if you were to join my crew. My phone number is at the end of the document, call me and tell me what you decide. Within 48 hours please, we're taking off in 7 days. If you're interested we can meet at my Shield office, just so you know I'm not making this all up, and we can look at paperwork. Maybe you could both come" he smiles kindly and offers the silver frame. 

Stephen pretends not to be surprised when his finger brushes a little panel on the bottom of the frame and the thing lights up with holograms. "Alright moon man, I'll look at it" 

Stephen walks their guest to the door and it opens up to return him to wherever he came from, maybe the actual moon. 

"Okay magic man, I hope I'll be seeing your face soon." Stark pushes his shades back on and trots down the Sanctum stairs waving behind him.

Wong joins him to watch the man duck into a black Infiniti and swiftly pull out of the space in front of the Sanctum to join the flow of cars. 

"Well that was a journey" he sighs, stepping away from the door as it closes. 

Wong whistles. "That man parked on a double yellow. He has no fear" 

"Wong what's with you? You're supposed to be the professional one" his stomach reminds him he hasn't eaten in a while and his legs take him to the kitchen.

Wong follows, "It sounds exciting, doesn't everyone want to go see the stars?"

"Okay but let's be practical. I have a job here"

"A job that's mostly waiting"

He's not wrong, he spends 90% of the time learning from books and observing. But if he's the first line of defence for the US against a threat like Dormamu, the 10% counts. 

Stephen clicks on the kettle and spins to face Wong, "You? You who taught me to stay loyal to all this is telling me to just fuck off to space?" 

"It solves our problem right? It's not a holiday it's taking down Loki's army"

"What about the stone? And the Sanctum?" He reminds him, opening the cupboard in hopes they have something to line his stomach. They have some bread so he takes two slices and spreads cream cheese on them while his green tea makes itself on the opposite counter. 

"I can take care of it, don't you think the eye compliments my robes?" 

Stephen slaps a chicken slice on his bread. "Okay stop having solutions to everything. I'm going to my study to read this thing and when I'm done we'll talk" he picks up his poor excuse of a sandwich with one hand and his tea with the other, "you know I'm starting to suspect you have an ulterior motive"

Wong huffs, "Okay I'll be honest with you, he parked an expensive car on a double yellow in the middle of Manhattan, he clearly makes a lot of money" 

"And?" Stephen realises he's left the hologram thing on the counter and fumbles to pick it up with the two fingers he has not holding bread. 

"And if you get some of that Shield money we could eat like kings!" 

He makes sure Wong hears his outrage as he leaves the kitchen. 

Stephen finds that the hologram frame works much like a tablet, just with a lot less hardware. It must all fit in the frame, which is quite a development in tech. It might be from a more advanced civilisation than theirs, outer space technology. 

He's not sure if he should be disappointed in himself that he kind of believes the things Stark said. The man is theatre, so much theatre, he wears confidence so strongly it seems like a mask. But that same confidence is what makes him believe, because while it was dramatic it was natural, his words didn't sound like imaginings they sounded like real information and real experiences. 

And if the man were some kind of facade, the handbook he's given him is extremely detailed for a montage to trick them. It covers everything, albeit in a general way, probably because it's all secrets. The document is titled 'Avenger Prospectus' and it starts with the simple facts, like how long the job would be, and what the salary is like. Wong was right, they would live better than crappy cheese and chicken sandwiches on it. 

The prospectus then goes to legal points, listed like they would be in a contract and formatted as requirements or entitlements. They're pretty general and don't really give him an idea of what exactly he would be in for. 

The 'Risks' section does that for him. He didn't take the Commander Stark guy all that seriously but as he reads the list of risks in the job he sobers a little. It gets serious, there are several points on kidnapping and torture, and dying in the vacuum of space as a result of an attack on the ship or a failure in a personal oxygen tank or helmet. The requirement to always wear identification tags is explained in the risk section too, saying it's necessary for identification in the case he's found by an alien race or his body is corrupted beyond recognition. There's even one warning that he may be captured and replaced by something called a Skrull. 

The pages of awful information should dissuade him, but they make him consider the offer more seriously. If the information is accurate Starks people aren't moon men, they're soldiers. They might even be the first line of defence between Earth and whatever's out there, like he is. 

When he's done reading it's night time. He looks for Wong and eventually finds him in Kamar-taj, doing his duty at the library with earphones on. He takes them out when he sees him and Stephen can faintly hear Rihanna. 

"So?" 

"I have a dilemma. I want to stop the Chitauri before they get to Earth, but if I can't do that and I'm not on Earth when they come I'll never forgive myself" 

Wong ponders for a moment, "Earth has Captain America, and us"

"Oh please, what is a man with big muscles and a frisbee going to do against a whole army?"

"Just us then"

"Wong I'm the Sorcerer Supreme, I can't just let you all fight without me" he wants to pull his hair out. It seems knowing what the threat is hasn't quelled that urge. 

Wong takes a deep breath and closes the book infront of him. "Alright, I've been messing around. My honest opinion is that I don't know what you should do, for the same reason you don't. If you manage to stop them before they reach earth that's the best option, but if you don't we'll need you"

"Maybe Starks people can stop them without me"

"Maybe"

He's not sure if it's the old ego coming back but he can't convince himself that that's true. He tries for a second, it doesn't work. 

"But what if Thor is the only trick up their sleeve?" 

"What you need is an outside opinion, maybe call Stark"

"No he's biased, even if he wanted to be objective he wouldn't" his role in relation to Stephen is recruitment, and a showman like him would sell the idea even in his sleep.

"So someone that has no stake in this"

Stephen doesn't think for long before an answer shines vivid in his mind, "Christine"

Wong raises a brow, "Your ex?" 

"Yeah, she's smart and unbiased" he spins on his heel and opens a portal to his bedroom in the Sanctum. Before he can question if it's a good idea he picks up his phone and drafts a text;

[ Hey Christine, I hope you're doing well. I have a work dilemma I think you could help me with so I was wondering if we could meet tomorrow. I won't take a lot of your time, I just need an outside opinion and you're the most sensible person I know. ]

Stephen hovers on the send button. He and Christine haven't spoken for about a year and a half. They are on friendly terms though, after what happened with the Ancient One, so he sucks it up and taps send. 

The problem, the source of the dilemma, is that he doesn't know enough. He doesn't know what kind of fire power Stark has under his wing, or how likely it is they'll find the Chitauri and actually defeat them. He doesn't know how much of a threat the Chitauri even are.

That takes him back to the library, he's searching for any information they might have on them when his phone buzzes. 

[ Central park at noon, that bench facing the lake. ]

Stephen smiles remembering the bench, Christine liked to sit there rain or shine, she said it was peace in the madness of the city. 

[ Thank you, I'll see you there. ]

He and Wong find nothing on the Chitauri, so they give up and call it a night. 

Stephen realises it's been a long time since he's put on regular clothes and gone out into society. It's nice to just throw on a shirt and pants and overhear conversations as he walks through the park to the famous bench. He's the first there so he sits and wonders if Christine might look different, or if she looks exactly the same. It hasn't been that long but maybe she's changed her hair, or put on weight. 

"Think any louder and I might hear you" 

Stephen looks up and there she is, smiling at him. She's radiant as always.

"Hey" He says. She does look the same, her hair is a little shorter but otherwise she hasn't aged or changed a bit. 

"Hi" she chirps, sitting down next to him and smoothing her tan coat. It's strange to see her with her hair down and no scrubs. 

"No work today?" 

"I've taken a break from Metro" 

Stephen's shocked to hear that. "Really? With that fancy position you had?" 

"I needed to slow down a bit you know? ER is just non stop pressure" 

It is true, while he pranced around with his chin in the air only doing surgeries that he thought were up to his standard Christine was running around all say trying to save all the lives she could. That takes a toll. 

"So what are you up to?" 

"You caught me at a good time actually, I'm going away in a few days, to see Europe, volunteer a bit, all that"

"Wow, well, good" Stephens always struggled to imagine Chris away from New York, it's clear she has changed, that she's unshackled herself from the mold that her life was. 

"So tell me, what's this work problem you have?"

"This is going to sound insane and straight out of a sci-fi but just pretend it's real; if you knew an extraterrestrial army was going to attack Earth would you stay on Earth and wait for the attack or would you go to space and attempt to cut them off at the rute?"

She looks beyond surprised, understandably. "God… well, how do you even get to space?" 

"This guy came to see me yesterday, he wanted to recruit me to his spaceship so that I could help him stop the army. It sounds so ridiculous to say out loud" just hearing it makes him consider if Stark really existed or if he was just a dream his exhausted mind formed. 

"Just some guy?" 

"He works for Shield, I don't know if you've heard of them. He's the head of their off world division, or so he says"

"Did he give you any more information?" 

"No, I gather it's because I haven't signed anything, it's a hush hush thing"

Christine exhales and drops her hands on her lap. Her nails are painted a dark red. "Well one of those options is evidently better than the other"

"Right, taking the fight to them would save lives"

She nods slowly, thinking. "But you don't know how effective this space man is?"

"Exactly. What if we don't get the jump on the army and I'm sitting in outer space like an idiot while they wipe everyone out"

Christine stares at him for a moment, then chuckles. "Stephen you're forgetting something, you're just one guy" 

"So is 'Commander' Stark" he makes the best air quotes he can manage. 

"He must have a crew"

"But if they're just a bunch of civilians that kind of know how to fire a weapon what force could they be?" 

She looks unimpressed, "You don't think that Shield would task their very best for something like stopping an army?" 

Stephen drops his head in his hands. "I just don't know what their best is"

"Let's backtrack, in your gut, do you think this Commander could get results?" 

"He has an Asgardian on his side" He mumbles, more to himself. 

Stark didn't speak with the air of someone who was going to try to stop an army, he spoke like someone that was going to succeed at stopping an army.

Suddenly Christine bounces where she sits, like she's had an epiphany. "Stephen if you stay here you're going to spend every single day until the attack dreading for it to happen. That sounds like a waste of your sanity, what if the attack doesn't come for months?"

He sits up again, considering her words. "You're so right" Even in the few hours between Loki and Stark he couldn't sleep or think of anything except the army. If he had to wait for them for even a week he'd eat his fingers with stress. 

Christine rests a hand on his knee and looks him in the eye. "Sign what you need to sign for the guy to give you more information, just make sure what you're signing has a way out incase you change your mind"

Stephen nods. It looks like it's time to call Commander Stark.


	2. Sword or Shield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You look different" 
> 
> Lame. What a lame thing to say. 
> 
> Stark seems beyond amused. "Did you think I would come to work in a leather jacket and jeans?"

Christine stands up and breathes the park air in with a smile. She checks her watch, a Momos Glashüette, and spares a moment to watch two ducks swimming across the lake. "Stephen I've got to head. Maybe we'll see eachother again sometime"

"Sure, take care" he watches as she walks away, her coat spreading in the wind. She seems so much more in control, in an overarching sense. She seems like she knows exactly what she's doing and what she will be doing, and she looks happier because of it. Stephen wouldn't mind a slice of that. 

Christine turns around while she walks. "Call the man!" 

Stephen holds up his cell in reply and she leaves him with a thumbs up. 

The decision is almost a coin toss, or completely is, if Christine had said he should stay on Earth he probably wouldn't be looking for Starks number in his phone. 

"Hello how can I help you?" 

"Stark? It's Dr Strange" he says, scrunching up his face at the sound coming through Starks line. It sounds like he's in a room with an industrial generator.

"Oh brilliant! I was hoping to hear from you, or I would have had to come back to find you"

"No you stay in that really loud place you're in"

The sound goes a little quieter. "Sorry we're doing engine tests"

"Is this a bad time?" 

"No, talk to me"

Stephen breathes deep, and takes the dive. "I'm interested in what you're proposing, I still have a few questions but I'm willing to try this space thing out"

"You’re making my day! I’m working today and I have meetings tomorrow until three. So come to Shield HQ then? You know where it is”

"Alright, until then" 

-

Right on time Stephen is through two security checkpoints and in the Shield lobby. It's massive, it feels like it goes on forever. There's an obnoxious metal bird in the centre of the hall and people's shoes click on the marble floor as they pass it, going to and from their work. The majority of them are in basic business wear but some are dressed all in black with guns strapped to their waists or thighs.

Not seeing Stark anywhere, he walks up to the reception desk. "Hey I have a meeting with, uh, Tony Stark"

The man at the desk stops typing to look at him, "What's your name?" 

"Strange, Stephen"

"He's just coming out of a meeting, he'll come down to get you" with that the guy is absorbed back into his computer. 

"Thanks" Stephen looks around and sees two couches in the corner next to the long desks. He sits on one and tries not to stare at the two men sat in the adjacent chair. They're identical, both in black suits and with thick moustaches. They have one top hat each on their laps and they're sitting too straight. 

A few minutes pass and Stephens gotten comfortable, sunken into the chair and crossed his legs. It's then that two men step out of an elevator at the other end of the reception, the shorter one is definitely Stark, he recognises the goatee and broad gestures immediately. He looks very different to their first meeting though, he's wearing a pale blue shirt and navy slacks with a gold tie, nothing like his douchebag look, probably the most opposite it could possibly be.

Stephen’s so busy looking at Stark he only realises in that moment that the big man with a shirt a size too small next to him is Captain America. 

The two men are opposites, while Stark wears a smile and looks like he's rambling as he gestures, Rogers is just nodding along, hands in pockets and a crease in his brow. They seem familiar with each other. 

Then Rogers stops and grabs Stark's arm to get him to face him. They're still a little too far for Stephen to hear but it looks like Rogers is asking him a serious question, with the way he's staring intently at Stark. Stark's smile falls for only a moment, then it's back up. Even from a distance Stephen can see it doesn't reach his eyes. 

Stark says something in reply and breaks away from the Captain to continue walking. It's then that he sees Stephen and waves, Stephen nods in reply. 

Stark and Rogers share a few words and go separate ways, one to the front entrance and the other toward him. 

"Hey Doc, you haven't been waiting long have you?"

"Nah, just a couple of minutes" Stephen pushes himself out of the comfortable couch.

"Follow me" Stark leads them back to the elevator he came from.

"So are you friends with Captain America?" Being the only 'superhero' in the public eye, the guy is a pretty big deal. Stephen will admit his story is interesting, from his transgressions in the war to reappearing 70 years after going down in the ice. He's not very impressed by his abilities but the story he can get behind. Although he was an idiot not to jump out of the jet before he sank it. 

"Well… work colleagues would be a better definition, we butt heads a lot" they go into the elevators and Stark pushes one of the many buttons near the top of the panel. 

"Alright, well maybe you're not making all this up" 

"Or the Captain is in on my scheme" Stark grins. Stephen makes a point of rolling his eyes. 

They don't speak for a moment, and seeing how many floors they have left, he figures he should start another conversation. "You look different" 

Lame. What a lame thing to say. 

Stark seems beyond amused. "Did you think I would come to work in a leather jacket and jeans?" 

"Yeah good point" Stephen concedes, although with the little he knows of Stark it wouldn’t surprise him. 

A lady joins them on one of the floors so they move further into the back of the elevator. Stark leans on the wall. "Not to say I haven't come to work in some very questionable outfits, but I've been with shield for like 20 years, I can't look smart every single day" 

Stephens brows go up. "20 years?" He may have to re-evaluate how old the guy is. 

"It all started when my friend dared me to hack the Pentagon"

"Let me guess, you managed to do it" he's starting to understand Stark, he's a main character, the one that impresses the audience at every turn. Characters like that are usually empty though, like embellishing air. 

"Yeah and Shield was all over me, asking me to work in IT. I couldn't take a full time job, because I was finishing High School, but I did them the occasional favour in return for parts I wanted to build robots. I was a sort of contractor until I finished MIT and left my dad's company, after that I took a position in the R&D department" 

Stephen takes a moment to swallow all that. "And now you're a Commander"

"Have been for 6 years"

The elevator stops and the woman walks out, looking back at the two of them with a smile. 

"What even is your job? I mean, you captain a spaceship, fight Gods and sit meetings with Steve Rogers. Is it just having an interesting life?" He's being sarcastic, probably uselessly. It's just the truth it seems. 

Stark chuckles. "Well yeah my job is… interesting definitely describes it. It’s just being in charge of Shields off world affairs, but that comes with politics and strategy meetings" 

The elevator finally opens on the floor Stark pushed and a woman almost bumps into them with how decisively she strides in.

"Jesus!" She steps back. The woman is sharp from head to toe, her bob cut is all straight lines and her black suit fits her like a weapon. 

"Why are you saying Jesus? You don't have to power walk everywhere Hope" Stark says. 

"Sorry, not everyone gets to be a field agent and actually exert themselves once in a while. Dr Strange?" She asks, pointing at Stephen. 

"Hi"

"Stephen, this is Hope Van Dyne. Where are you off to anyway?"

"Word downstairs is that Thor is hungry. Again"

Stark steps out of the elevator after him. "Maybe Sam should up our food stock" 

"Yeah I can hear him complaining from up here" 

The elevator doors close and she's gone. Stephens always thought that his new life is crazy but he's starting to think that he doesn't know what crazy is, Starks world seems like a hurricane. 

"What's Thor like?" Stephen asks as he follows Stark down a short corridor. It's lined with offices behind glass. A couple of people stop what they're doing to look at them. 

"What you'd expect really, big and loud and proper sounding. He is smart though, which I'm glad to see" 

Stark touches his ID on a pad and they walk through a sliding door at the end of the corridor and into an office. It's small but nice, well lit by the wall to wall window on the far end, with couches and a table by the door and a tall plant by the desk, the very tidy desk.

Stark doesn't go to the desk though, he goes to another door on the left wall, through there is the same office but with a work bench instead of couches and a much more populated space. 

"Yeah the other office is Hopes, I'm not perfect like her" he says, circling the desk and falling into his chair, it rolls back a little with the force. 

"This makes more sense anyway, you seem like you like chaos" Stephen comments, sitting on the opposite chair. There's a silver contraption on the cabinet behind Stark that moves in continuous circles and looks something like a modern take on a windmill. It's distracting. 

His smirk feels fake, "That depends on what kind. Anyway, before I get out boring paperwork, what questions do you have?" He asks while trashing an empty coffee cup and moving small chips and metal rings to the side. 

"I know you're trying to get me on board but if I ask you something will you try to be objective?"

Stark scoots his chair closer. "Of course, we people of science live by objectivity"

"What are the chances of us finding the Chitauri and what are the chances of us actually stopping them before they hit Earth?" 

Stark’s brows go up a little, like he didn't expect such a question. "Before I answer that, could you just sign this," he picks up another one of those hologram pads and slides it across the table, "It's an NDA, it doesn't commit you to this mission in any way, I just can't talk about it in detail if you don't" he pushes the top of the frame and a small stylus pops out.

Stephen nods and takes the pad from him, being a professional reader, he skims it all in a few seconds. Finding it all acceptable, he takes out the stylus and signs his name where indicated. He appreciates that the pad corrects his shaky cursive. 

"Awesome, now I can actually dig into all this. Don't forget to keep it quiet, I know a few trained killers," he doesn't say it like it's a joke, "So, finding the army is a certain, we know where their home world is and have outposts to confirm it. Even if they left they have to travel in their mothership, it's massive and doesn't use stealth or sonic tech. It wouldn't be a problem for us"

"Okay good. And defeating them?" 

"They aren't gods or titans, very easily beaten. The problem is the numbers" he explains. 

"And your solution?" 

"If we destroy their ship while they're all still in it then it shouldn't be a Herculean effort. I've found an individual that can help me build heavy cannons on my ship that would do some real damage"

Stephen nods slowly, "How much combat experience do you and your crew have? What's your success rate?" 

"We've been on three tours of duty and on every one we've accomplished what we set out to do. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it means we're unstoppable, no one is, and I'm not going to tell you it's all fun and games, we make mistakes, get into bad situations and we… we've lost people" Starks jaw tightens and he casts his eyes down.

"But?" There has to be a but, the salesman always has a counter. 

The tension in his body melts away and Stark locks him in with a look of pure certainty in his eyes. "My crew is the best group of people in the world, the entire galaxy even. They're so smart and capable they make me think they- we really are unstoppable. If anything can stop Loki my crew can, I know that for sure"

That is not the pitch he expected. He expected something flashy and enticing, like the pleasures of the universe or the very nice Shield paycheck. An emotional delivery of Stark's compassion for his crew isn't that at all. He looks so proud it makes Stephen start to feel inadequate when he used to think he would be above the people that worked for the man. 

"Okay, and can I ask, if they somehow do get the jump on us and get to Earth how quickly can we get back?" 

"My ship's drive core is capable of a short burst of light speed travel, that and the mass relays would get us back in minutes" Stark explains, drawing a line on his desk with his finger. 

"All it takes is minutes to destroy a whole country" Stephen points out. 

"Shield is preparing for the attack as we speak, we have weapons that'd make you piss your pants"

He doubts that. It makes him smirk, and Stark smirks back, like he can hear his thoughts. 

"Well Stark I only have one more question"

He drops his chin in his palm. "Shoot"

"Am I gonna be eating out of tins for a month? Because if I am I'm not joining"

Stark laughs. He has a nice laugh. "We have a great chef on board"

"Then fuck it, I'll go to space"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would love to get off earth too tbh… Anyway! Next chapter you'll get to see Tony's ship and meet pretty much every mcu character lmao. It's a long one.


	3. The Avenger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I present you my baby" 
> 
> "Bit of a big baby Stark" 
> 
> "Yeah I don't do anything small"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one and very explainy but I had a good time writing Stephens introduction to all of the characters

"Wong are you sure you're going to be okay? You say the word and I'll stay" Stephen assures when he's opened a portal to Shield HQ. The day of take off has come, so fast. 

"The stone is safe, I'm taking care of your duties, everything is fine" Wong insists, shoving Stephens bag in his arms. 

"But who's standing in as librarian? Do you trust them to do the job right?" Wong has always told him the job is much more meticulous than it seems, he can only hope it's in good hands. 

Wong puts his hands on his hips and gives him a stern look. "Stephen you're nervous"

"Of course I am! I'm going to outer space, people usually have to train for years to do this"

"It's a good thing you're a special boy then" 

Wong tries to back him into the portal but he stands his ground. "What if this is a huge mistake?" 

"Then you and Commander Stark can live on Mars and start a happy family"

"I'm serious, we have global annihilation in the balance" some decisions are so heavy, if it were another time he might have used the stone to see the outcomes of his choice. 

"Stark told you he could get you back here fast, and we'll be here holding the line until you do"

"But what if-"

Wong grabs him by the arms. "Listen to me. If you stay here you won't be able to save everyone, even if you stop the Chitauri. If you go and miss the start of the fight you'll be back to join it, and when it's all over you can say you've been across the galaxy" 

Wong's right, that makes him take a deep breath and pull himself together, "Okay" 

Wong smiles in that small way he does. "Come back in one piece" 

Stephen pats his friends shoulder. "Stay in one piece" 

He steps backward into the portal and takes a second to look at Wong, and the Sanctum, before closing it. He won't be seeing them in a while. 

Before approaching the first security checkpoints Stephen stashes his bag in his pocket dimension. When he walks up to security he has to walk with confidence, because really he looks crazy. He and Wong decided he should bring his new suit, the black one that is far too form fitting. The reason behind it was valid, the suit is made to protect him from radiation and high temperatures and anything else he might encounter in space, but he feels exposed, and he sticks out like more than a sore thumb. 

Thankfully the cloak behaves when the sceptical guards pat him down, and he can go into the main building to repeat the process and get the same bewildered looks.

He strides to the reception desk, decisively ignoring stares, and sees there's a guy talking to the receptionist that looks like the other half to his costume. He's wearing a navy, almost black bodysuit with white boots and belt and the shield logo on the shoulder, in a yellow circle. Instead of a cloak he has two big guns on his back and one strapped to his thigh, they don't look like normal weapons at all. 

Stephens eyes widen when he gets to the desk and realises the guy is Stark. 

"Hi Strange, I'm so happy you're on time, today's insane" he's striding off to the elevator as he speaks and Stephen has to catch up. 

"Did you ever watch Community?" 

"Course" Stark pushes a button near the bottom of the panel this time. 

"Like the Dean, every time you're wearing something completely different" somehow the guy also manages to pull off every look, each one compliments him in a different way. The suit brings out the strength in his build, a strength Stephen hadn’t noticed before. He looks fitting of the Commander title. 

"This is what you'll see me wearing most of the time. You saw civilian Tony, business Tony and this is Commander Tony. I like your outfit by the way, very hot" He says, very casually. Stephen doesn't really know what to do with it. 

"I was going to ask you why wear a bodysuit and why wear white but that's exactly what I'm wearing so I'll not do that" he looks down at his chest, at the white panels covering it, and the white line pointing down his torso. He's still not sure what the purpose of that is, the sorcerer who helped him make the suit just told him Asgardian materials have a will of their own. 

The elevator stops at -7 but the doors don't open. Stark doesn't seem alarmed though, instead he pulls his ID out of the many pouches on his belt and taps it to a black square under all the floor buttons. 

"Good morning Commander Stark, how was your vacation?" A voice above them says, it sounds like a machine. 

"Great, Tahiti is beautiful this time of year" That said, the opposite wall of the elevator slides up to reveal another elevator, a less glamorous one with no buttons, instead a screen.

Stark leads him into this discreet elevator and taps one of the options on the screen. "If you must know this is an off world leather that has insane grip and durability. It also doesn't show dirt. Didn't you bring anything?"

"I put it in my pocket dimension. It's what it sounds like" he adds when Stark frowns.

The elevator doesn't elevate at all, it starts moving horizontally. Stephen almost trips. 

"This is taking us to where we keep the ship. If you need to travel to and from here you'll need to be on -7 and say the key phrase, exactly as I said, 'Tahiti is beautiful this time of year'. Your Shield ID and tags are in your quarters on the ship" 

A realisation smacks Stephen in the face. "This is actually real"

"Freaking out?" 

"Maybe?" 

"Well make space because I'm going to give you a tour of the ship and it's a lot. You'll have some time before hour zero to internalize it all. And talk to me, or anyone, joining a crew is joining a family" Stark smiles and squeezes his shoulder.

Stephen’s not sure if he's all that excited about a family, he's gotten so used to being alone, or just with Wong. Several people sounds daunting.

The elevator stops and the wall to his right slides up to reveal what looks like a massive warehouse. 

Somebody is standing in front of them, waiting to go in the elevator. It's Steve Rogers, looking serious as ever. 

"Captain" Stark says. 

"Commander"

"Joining us are we?" The two of them walk out of the elevator so Rogers can walk in.

"I was just wishing safe travel to the guys"

Stark leans on the elevator frame, "Do I get some of that wishing?" 

The corner of the Captains mouth quirks. "When have you ever needed it Tony?"

"If I don't get back from this tour it's your fault"

"I'll see you soon," Rogers says, softly.

Stark initiates a firm handshake, then steps back and let's the elevator close between them. 

Stephen considers asking if they have some kind of history, but considering how intensely Rogers is always looking at Stark and the way Stark looks at him like he looks at everyone else might suggest something unfortunate for the Captain. 

The thought flies out of his head when they walk to the edge of the balcony and he sees the ship. 

It's definitely a ship, it's huge. It's huge and constructed with light grey panels and so clean it reflects every surface. It's decorated with red strips on the edges of its body and attached engines. It's so large the people on platform elevators working on the outer parts of the thing look like toys. 

Stark extends his arms. "I present you my baby" 

"Bit of a big baby Stark" Stephen comments when he manages to move his mouth. 

Stark takes them onto a nearby platform and pushes the down arrow attached to a console to lower them. "Yeah I don't do anything small" 

"Did you build this?" From a new angle he sees that the ship is long but narrow, with a subtle curve to it. 

"All by myself- no I designed it, and helped with the building where it was necessary" that said, Stark jumps off the platform before it's even stopped. 

Stephen isn't inclined to do such a thing, so he waits until the platform aligns with the floor to walk off. "Your resume must be longer than the bible" 

Stark laughs, "Come, we're going to start at the bottom and work our way up"

Stephen follows him across the metal grated floor, looking up at the ship as they go. It has 'Avenger' printed on its side in big red letters, with that same arrow on the A. Clearly Stark designed it, it's not exactly subtle. 

People in Shield branded overalls carry boxes up the ship's ramp and Stark says hello to almost all of them, addressing them by name. 

"This is the Shuttle bay, we come down here to go on missions" as assured, there's a guy to the left working on what looks like a shuttle. It's bulky and blue.

On the right side of the space there's a nook with a work table and computers. Three people are in it, one guy with long hair and an arm that looks like it's made of metal is doing pull ups on a bar, a woman is sat on the floor eating a cereal bar and the other man is standing still speaking into an earpiece. It's the same one Stark is wearing, a simple device that resembles a cordless earphone. 

Stark leads him to them, "Guys how are we? Spirits high?" 

The man doing pull ups lets go of the bar and turns around. There's an edge to him, with the steel blue of his eyes, close shave and long hair. Not to mention the incredibly articulate looking metal arm. "I don't like this part, too much waiting" 

"Stephen, this is Bucky Barnes, he manages all the cargo that comes in and out of the ship, he's on ST1" Stark says. He told Stephen after he agreed to join that he would be on ST, or strike team, 1. It's the front lines, the best the crew has to offer, the team that goes out first and usually last. Apparently they're very efficient. He wonders what makes Barnes one of the best. 

The man next to him looks Stephen up and down blankly, "Another Asgardian?"

"Are they all white men or something?" The woman on the floor jokes. 

Stark slaps a hand on Stephen's shoulder. "No Mr Strange is just a regular old human wizard. That is Colonel James Rhodes, my second in command," he moves his index from the man down to the woman, "and our main shuttle pilot, Maria Rastambeau"

Someone calls out Commander and they all turn to that woman from Shield coming out of the ship's elevator. Hope. 

"One sec" Stark jogs over to her.

Left alone with three people he's going to be spending a while with, Stephen figures he should break the ice. "So have you worked with Stark long?" 

"It's Commander to you" the Colonel says.

"I'm here to help him, not be ordered around"

Rhodes looks at him for what feels like too long, he seems mildly disgusted. "I don't like you"

Stephen blinks. 

Stark makes it back, "Sorry, should we continue?" 

He’s beyond relieved to be taken away from them, clearly he missed the ice and broke glass. He stands by his words though, and if Rhodes doesn't want to like him that's his choice. 

He and Stark walk between two consoles and he stops at one of them, "One last thing on this deck, this console is our Amazon, you might say. You can order supplies from the various shops in the galaxy and they'll be delivered here. There is a 10% mark up though, and if you want to see the items with your own eyes you're better off just waiting till we get to the hubs" 

Stephen nods, skimming over some interesting shop names on the screen. 

Stark leads the way into the elevator and pushes the number 4 on the screen mounted on the back wall. Stephen registers he's wearing some kind of headset. It's thin and grey, going around the back of his head in a band, the side of it he's looking at branches off toward Stark’s mouth, stopping in the centre of his cheek, most likely a mic, and the other part curves up to rest against his temple. Hope must have given it to him. 

"Okay this is engineering, these two doors in front of us lead to the drive core, where Engineer Richards works. The door at the far right leads to the surveillance room and the one on the left is port cargo" that said, Stark guides him by the arm back into the elevator and takes them up to the third floor. 

The first thing he sees when the door slides open is a stone pillar with that Avenger A on it and four name plaques beneath. The monument even has its own lights to make it stand out.

-Ashley Williams-  
-Mordin Solus-  
-Maya Hansen-  
-Pepper Potts-

Those names, Stephen realises, belong to the dead. 

Stark doesn't even notice him staring, his expression is more serious than he's ever seen before as he looks at those names. He thought the guy was always sunny, or he saw that he was always sunny, so it's new to see what he's seeing, that look isn't a clear sky. 

"That had to be rough"

Tony huffs, "You know most people congratulate me, tell me it's impressive I've had so 'few' casualties" 

"But every life counts, in a big way" he says, thinking about the one human life he's taken. It's so much to carry, he can't imagine what even one more would do to him. And he thinks of the Ancient one, the feeling of losing her wasn't any worse because it was only her. 

Stark smiles at him, and it looks real. "Yeah it does. Shall we?" He takes a left and points at a door on the right wall, "This here is the crew quarters, not where you'll be staying, but incase you make friends outside of the Operations team" 

They continue to the end of the corridor and the doors split open to reveal a room with warm lighting, a big window and two couches facing it. There's a blond man sat in one of them and he knows it's Thor right away. He can practically feel the power within him. 

"Hey how are you?" 

Thor closes the book in his lap and stands up. His muscles are shocking. "Impatient, otherwise well"

"Just two and a half hours to go big guy"

"Thor right? Nice to meet you" Stephen bows his head, figuring the guy isn't familiar with handshakes, which benefits him, Thor would crush his hand. 

Thor narrows his eyes at him and touches a finger to his chin. "Hm. Sorcerer?" 

"Yeah, Dr Strange" Thor is someone he actually wanted to meet and so far he likes him.

Tony looks between the two of them with a crease in his brow, "Do you two have some kind of mystical connection?" 

"More a radar" Stephen corrects. 

"Yes I can feel the air around you is different" Thor says. 

"Wow Stephen, what a nice compliment"

It is, he shows Thor a genuine smile. 

Stark claps his hands, "Anyway, back with the tour. This is Starboard Observation, aka the library" he points to the bookshelves on either end of the room. It's not much but Stephen makes a note to check it out when he has time. 

"I'll be seeing you" Thor says when Stark pulls him out of the room and toward the other end of the corridor. 

"Gym" he says, pointing at a door as they pass it. The door opens for a second and he catches a glimpse of what looks like a regular gym, just on a metal floor. 

"You got a pool in there?" 

"Working on it" Stark waits for the door at the end of the corridor to open, "This here is the Lounge, the fun room really" 

Stephen can see why, he has a pool table on his left and a bar on his right. There's a huge guy behind the counter taking bottles out of a box and shelving them. 

"Hey Luke"

"Commander" the man continues working, uninterested by them. 

"I can't really imagine you relaxing" Stephen says when they're walking back to where the stone monument is. Being next to the man feels like being next to a beacon. 

Tony side eyes him, "I'm always relaxed" 

"Well I've only seen you working" every step they take resonates against the metal flooring. It seems it's consistent throughout the ship, he figures he'll have to get used to it. 

Stark shrugs, "I don't like to disengage my mind" 

Unlike the previous floor, this one opens up. They walk past the elevator and into a large open space with two big tables in it. There are quite a few crew members standing around or sitting with plates of food in front of them, all in muted garments of different types with the Shield logo on the breast. 

"This is the Mess Hall, where we eat well and chill better," Stark leads him across the hall, to a small kitchen installed into the left corner. There's a man there holding a can of black beans in one hand and a jar of olives in the other.

"Whoever packed the food, fire them please" he tells Stark when they're in ear shot. 

He chuckles, "Take that up with Hope. Sam this is Dr Strange, the new guy, Strange this is Sam Wilson, he's in charge of the Mess Hall"

"Hey man," he pauses to look between the two of them, "Did you two match?" 

Both Stark and Stephen make the same amused sound, which doesn't help their case. In truth Stephen’s not sure if he wants to run back to the sanctum for his regular robes or match Stark with no fear. 

"Yeah we called each other before coming to HQ" Stark quips. Apparently it's a goodbye because Stephens being dragged past the kitchen and through another one of the doors that open up in three parts. 

The room is filled by an L shaped desk. There's one woman with short red hair sat facing them and another one with almost the same hair colour at the other length of the desk.

"Welcome to the Liaison office Dr Strange, I'm Natasha Romanoff" the woman with the short hair says, leaning back into her chair. She's the only person he's seen wearing the same bodysuit Stark is, just without the white accessories. 

"She's on ST1 too, and our Shield correspondent. She reports back to them so try to behave" Tony winks, as if Stephen looks like the type to misbehave. He doubts he'll make friends on the ship, let alone get up to travisties with them. Not counting that he could care less about whether or not Shield approves of his actions. 

"And that's Mary Jane Watson, she's our general Earth correspondent, she manages news and messages from our worried spouses and oblivious parents" Natasha explains, dramatizing the last part. Stephen knows somebody with neither of those things when he sees one, just like he knows his reflection in the mirror. 

Mary stops doing what she's doing to smile at him, it seems like she's looking for something. Stephen’s attention is back on Natasha though, because she's looking at them both intently. 

Nothing about the woman belongs behind a desk, she's gorgeous and athletic and sounds like a siren capable of pulling a man overboard. 

"You know Tony if the three of us got together we could really make some money in Afterlife"

"Seriously Nat? Aren't we good enough for Purgatory?" 

Natasha props her chin in her hands and flashes a devilish smile, "Yeah but you know Afterlife is more fun"

Stark shakes his head, but he's smiling. "Put a pin in that, I'm on the clock" 

"You two seem close" Stephen murmurs when the doors close behind them. He decides not to ask what Afterlife and Purgatory are, he can guess. 

"Yeah I've known her since she started at Shield. She's insane, can take out a dozen guys and not even break a sweat" Stark walks them to the door on the opposite side of the Mess Hall, "This is the Med bay, hopefully you won't have to see it much" 

The doors open and Stephen almost chokes when the woman in the room turns around. 

"Stephen you came!" 

"Chris… what?" Blinking doesn't make her go away, she's still standing in the room with a red box in her arms and in uniform. 

"Oh you two know each other?"

"Yeah we worked together at Metro"

"Small world"

Stpehen finally remembers how to speak, "Christine you snake!"

"Hey! I signed a million NDA's too, I couldn't say anything until you joined" 

"You were supposed to be unbiased" he's not sure how to feel, betrayed is a little strong. Deceived might be the right word. 

Christine puts the box down and comes closer, "Stephen if anything this is good, my decision was informed"

"I'm so dumb, now that I look back it's so obvious" its so obvious he almost laughs. The trip to Europe, the expensive watch, the way she approached the topic of space and an army like it was normal. 

He told her an army was coming to Earth and the first thing she asked him is how he would get to outer space.

Chris shrugs, looking smug. "You weren't looking for it"

Stephen takes a moment to make it all make sense. Christine is a doctor working on a spaceship. 

Spelling it out makes it more unbelievable. 

"So… you're like the head doctor here?" 

She smooths down her black and white coat with a proud look on her face. "In the flesh"

"How is this less hectic?" She said she wanted to hit the brakes, going to a space war sounds like hitting the acceleration. 

"Not that many people get injured. Nice outfit by the way, much better than those blue robes" 

He really doesn't know what the problem was with his robes. 

"Okay Christine, I have to steal him away, you two catch up later" again, he's pulled away by the arm. 

"How long has she worked here?" He asks as they pace back across the hall. There's one door Stark didn't show him, it's between the kitchen and the Med bay, down a brightly lit corridor. He assumes whatever it is just doesn't concern him. 

"This is her second tour, just over a year I've had her" 

"Why did you hire her?"

"She was one of my surgeons at Metro, during my recovery we built a rapport and I really liked her, she did her job beyond well, so I slowly broke her into the proposition that she should work here" Stark explains as they wait for the elevator. Something about that explanation sounds strange.

"You two aren't involved are you? because she's my ex and If you are I don't want to discuss it with you, ever" he wouldn't be jealous, he and Christine are definitely a closed book when it comes to that, but he wouldn't enjoy hearing about it if it were the case. 

"No, not at all. Just friendly colleagues" Stark insists, pushing 2 on the elevator panel. 

Although part of him wants to go back to the Med Bay and tell Christine she's insane and should go back to running ER immediately, another is glad for her. The way she spoke in the park, he could tell she's enjoying life. He's taken enough enjoyment from her in the past as it is. 

It's also nice to know somebody. 

Tony walks out on the second deck with his arms wide like they were when he showed him the ship. "Welcome to my favourite floor, the CIC, or Combat Information Centre if you like saying words" 

There's a lot to take in, but the middle of the room demands his attention. It's a big orange projection of the ship. A section of it turns vivid blue and staff manning a few of the consoles it's surrounded by seem to be checking for instabilities in the structure. 

"You wanna see somethin' cool?" In front of them there's a platform that overlooks the hologram, that's where Stark leads him, and insists he climb the three steps to stand on it. 

When he does the image of the ship fades away, replaced by an expanse of blue, orange and pink clouds swirling toward a blindingly bright centre. Stephen's breath falls out of him like a brick. It's incredible, the colours are so alive, and dotted with white specs that look like stars. 

"Beautiful isn't it?" Tony says behind him, "That's our galaxy"

"Where are we?" 

The platform is really only big enough for one person, so Stark's shoulder is flush against his back when he leans over.

He moves his closed hand over a spot and splays out his fingers in a quick movement. The projection zooms fast, and when it slows down he can see less of the bright clouds but they're replaced by the light of two big stars, one of them is redder than the other, almost pink.

Stark does a pinch zoom over the yellow star and Stephens looking at their stolar system, "there we are"

"Doesn't this make you feel…" small doesn't really cover it. Whatever they are they're part of something huge that'll continue on with or without them.

Tony's bright eyes reflect the light of the simulated sun, "I love it, I love how much is out there. I know I'm talking about wars and strike teams but I built this ship to explore, and learn. You're going to learn so much, like it or not" 

"No I like it" he really does, it's why he never stops reading, he has to know everything, understand everything. 

He and Tony smile at each other for a moment and the hectic nature of seeing something so new and meeting so many people goes away for a second. Stephen thinks that maybe he will enjoy the tour, the parts that aren't fighting. 

"Good! Now, it's a bit of a walk but I think it's important for you to meet the pilot" Stark drags him off the platform and he looks back to see the image of the planets fade away, replaced by the ship once more. 

He was right, it is quite a walk to get to the other end of the ship. There's always something to look at though; projected screens, people working in front of them, devices he hasn't seen before, discreet but exposed cables on the walls. 

Stark stops at a door on the left, "This leads to the airlock, it's where we come off if we dock the ship" 

That said, they continue to the door at the end of the bridge and after it opens the first thing he registers is Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye playing out of a speaker. There's a guy sipping on a shake and bopping about the cockpit with one of those holo pads in his free hand.

"Hi Commander" he calls, leaning over to the counter to turn the music down until it's just a hum in the background.

Stark leans on the door frame with a smile. "It's good to see somebody is having fun"

"Yeah well everyone on this ship is so serious. Who's this? Dracula?" The man asks, gesturing at Stephen. 

The cloak bristles. The pilot freezes for a moment when he notices it. 

"No it's the newbie, Dr Strange" Stark says, not having seen anything. 

"Oh newbie! Welcome. I'm the pilot, Clint Barton, or Hawkeye"

He's more assured than curious that Hawkeye is his nickname.

"Nice to meet you," Stephens eyes catch a second, empty seat, "You don't have a co pilot?"

Barton points at something above that chair, a blue sticker with 'Jarvis is my co-pilot' in white comic sans.

"Oh you mentioned a Jarvis" he remembers Stark saying he runs the ship, which he thought was the Commander's job. 

"Yeah, Jarvis say hi"

"Good morning Dr Strange. Welcome to the Avenger SR1" a voice says. It's all around them, he doesn't know where to look. 

"Yeah he's the ship's AI, a real stand up guy" Barton explains, having noted his confusion. 

"Thank you Mr Barton" the voice replies. It sounds British.

"You can talk to Jarvis any time, about anything, any problems or questions or just if you want conversation. All you have to do is address him directly" Stark explains.

Stephen nods, already curious to see how far the AI can be pushed in its responses. 

"Okay, let's walk all the way back" Tony salutes to Barton and leads the way back down the bridge. 

As they walk back toward the centre consoles with the ship hologram in their centre he realises they're arranged in an arrow. He's not sure if it's a coincidence or it's designed to match the Avengers A, but it's a visually pleasing arrangement.

Instead of going to the elevator Stark sticks to the left path on the ship until it ends at a door. As with the rest, the green circle at its centre cycles once and then opens up. 

The area they go into doesn't look as tidy as what he's seen so far, the narrow path in front of them has big cables crossing it and a bunch of boxes in a corner behind what looks like a meeting room. 

"This is the Operations wing, that's our conference room, we don't use it much" he points at the table in the glass room next to them. It's oblong and hollow in the middle and it's only accompanied by three chairs. It's clearly not something they've put a lot of work into. 

"The main event is Strategy and Planning centre, we just call it Operations" he explains when they get past the conference table and to the next door. 

When it opens Stephen can see why they didn't bother much with the conference room, because this room is insane. He's looking at a circular space with two levels, the one they're on is lined by consoles, where staff work away staring at orange screens. The lowered level in the middle of the room is centred by a circular control desk. Above it on the ceiling there's a cylinder of the same dimensions projecting a large purple hologram of some kind of weapon dead in the middle.

"This is where we have our Operations meetings, you'll come here a fair amount, so remember the way" Stark says, guiding him out of the way of two people leaving the room in a hurry. 

Stephen follows him down a few steps to the lower level and toward two people talking. One of them is a woman, she's tall and tan, with dark hair in a pixie cut, and the third person he's seen so far in the black Shield bodysuit. The man talking to her is short, and older, but still young enough that it's odd he has completely silver hair. He suits it though.

"Hey Commander, we got word that Rocket was on Knowhere, but he’s left" the man says, sparing Stephen a glance. 

“Our trash panda moves around a lot huh? We’ll find him, and when we do it'll be a nice surprise" 

"Is this the new ST1 guy?" The woman asks, examining him carefully. Stephen decides he's glad he wore his suit, if he boarded in a cardigan and jeans no one would take him seriously. 

"Dr Stephen Strange" he introduces.

"It really seems like this is the tour should be called 'Commander Stark hires a bunch of people on a whim'" the man comments after a beat of silence.

Stephen wonders if it's going to outer space that makes people say what they're thinking with no regard for others. It must be that fearlessness Wong talked about, when you've fought aliens you don't care if people think you're rude. 

Tony makes an outraged noise, "This is not a whim Everett, Fury wanted this guy personally. And how could I say no to Thor? We'd be fucked without him" 

"And you're going to pick up Rocket. Do I need to remind you how many times he's been arrested?" The woman says, crossing her arms and giving Stark an unimpressed look.

He shrugs, "Yeah well he's smarter than me so we need him"

"Shuri’s smarter than you, and Banner has more PHDs" Maria points out. 

Stephen’s always been very proud of his MD and PHD. It alarms him to hear that not only Stark has one or several, but Dr Banner has more than him. He's followed Banner's work, so he knew, but he figured he only had one or two. He really thought he would stand out on the ship, now he finds that ignorant. 

"Stephen, these assholes are Agent Maria Hill and Everett Ross. They lead operations" Stark says, pulling him back to the moment. 

"You better be good, a team is only as strong as its weakest link" Maria says, her eyes piercing his. 

Tony snorts, "As if anyone on ST1 is a weak link"

A crew member approaches the two agents, and when she mentions something about a collector they walk off with her, to a console on the upper level.

"Once you gain their respect they're good fun" Tony insists, taking them back the way they came. 

"Have you gained it? Because it didn't seem like it" 

"If they didn't respect me they wouldn't work here. Trust me, if you don't after this tour you won't be back for another" 

Stephen decides not to point out that he won't be back regardless, the only reason he's on the ship is because Earth is under threat and he's responsible for protecting it. After that, he'll go back to staying in Manhattan and defending the planet from the comfort of the Sanctum. All this is a break from the normal, a diverging branch that'll eventually rejoin the main line.

"Alright, now witness the glory of the labs" glory” Stark says when they’ve come out of the operations wing and neared another door not too far from it. 

He’s shown a long room populated in it’s middle by white work benches and at its edges by consoles, tables and shelves. It doesn’t take his breath away but he understands the great praise, a place of research is a special one, and clearly it’s a lab.

“This is the research lab, where I spend most of my time if you ever need to find me” 

As he looks around Stephen remembers his last conversation with Tony, when he was wearing a tie and they were in a regular old office. He had told him that all crew members should take up a role in the ship's ecosystem, even if they’re on ST1. He agreed, prefering to feel useful when he wasn’t facing an army. At first Stark suggested working in the med bay, and he had to explain to him why he couldn’t do that, so after some discussion they settled on the research lab, to put his skills in absorbing information to use. 

It’s an adequate work space, he’s not sure what precisely he’s going to do but he can’t see anywhere he wouldn’t want to be working, it’s a calm space with not too many people, all focused on their own tasks. 

One of those people, a man in a white coat, turns around. It’s Dr Banner.

“Hey Bruce, how are we this fine day?” Stark asks him when they approach him at his counter. It has a device on it that’s suspending a black stone above it. The stone keeps letting off blue smoke the way ice does. 

“I’m okay, the new girl asks a lot of questions” Banner says, pushing his glasses up his nose. 

Tony tips his head with a curious look, “I can’t tell if that’s a complaint or not”

“No, I like her. Is this the guy Fury wanted you to hire?” he asks, pointing at Stephen with his black stylus. 

“Yeah, Dr Strange this is Dr Banner”

Stephen actually extends his hand, if there’s anyone he would suffer the discomfort of shaking hands for, its Dr Banner. 

Luckily his handshake isn’t too firm, “Dr Strange? The neurosurgeon?” 

“I was, it’s nice to know you’ve heard of me” he’s kind of shocked, Banner has no reason to know who he is, they were in very different fields. 

“We were at one of those stuffy smart person events, you won an award. I actually spoke to your girlfriend, Christine, she was very interesting, or is I should say” he laughs shily. 

Stephen wants to cringe, because he knows how obnoxiously he behaved at those events. “Yeah it should have been her winning the awards” he replies, and means it. Now that his head isn’t up his own ass he appreciates all the things in Christine he spent so much time overlooking. 

“Bruce we’re looking at stationing Stephen here with you”

“Oh cool, to focus on what?” he asks, poketing his stylus. The lab coat he’s wearing has a black shield logo on the breast pocket but underneath it is a button up and trousers, not uniform. 

“What do you need?” Stephen asks when Banner and Stark look at him expectantly. 

Bruce thinks for a moment, then looks over at Tony. “Should I have him look at the sword?”

Stark nods, “Right, we picked up a sword from Nidavellir a couple of years ago, we think it’s enchanted but we haven’t been able to crack its purpose”

“Also whoever holds it starts bleeding profusely out of their nose, it’s pretty weird” Bruce adds, making a face. Stephen assumes he’s one of those people that tried to hold it. 

“Yeah I can look at it”

A small girl walks in through the glass doors ahead with a big tube filled with what looks like a larger version of the rock on Dr Banners desk. Stephen has no idea how she's managing to carry it. “Ah the three white men, do you come bearing gifts?”

“Stephen, this is Shuri, she’s new too” Stark introduces. 

“Oh Dr Stephen Strange? I’ve read your papers, they’re okay” just like that she continues on her way. He can only blink. 

Tony pats him on the back, “Yeah if you have any kind of ego I suggest you avoid speaking to her too much” 

Stephens found that to be the case with everyone he’s met on the ship. 

“Alright let me just show you the Armory. After that I’ll take you to your room” Stark gestures for him to follow him to the glass doors Shuri came from. 

He appreciates that, some privacy is necessary after all he’s had to hear and take in. Being with his own thoughts for a while sounds like a treat. 

The doors slip open to a room almost identical to the lab, just with various strange guns or other gadgets left on workbenches. Unlike the labs though, on the left wall there's an interesting display. Stephen walks over to it and looks at the row of guns shelved behind a strip of glass. One of them must be a sniper rifle, it's long and black with a scope attached to it. There's also a short gun with a vaguely triangular shape and a stripe on its side showing it's blue interior, it has a pale glow. He recognises it, it's the same one Stark has strapped to his thigh. The third gun is the biggest he's seen yet, it's made of three different kinds of metal and has S3000 printed on it in small red letters.

"That’s the Black Widow," Stark says, pointing at the sniper rifle, "based off of an existing sniper called Widow. It was inspired by Natasha and the only human who uses it is Bucky, because it would shatter anybody else's shoulder. Romantic isn't it?" 

"It is? Are they together?" 

"Nah they're in the 'we like eachother but we haven't talked about it yet' stage. Anyway," he turns his attention to the smallest gun in the middle of the display, "this is the Arc pistol," then the last big one, "and that's the Arc Projector, invented by Tony Stark himself"

Not even surprised that the man also makes weapons, Stephen looks from the pistol on Tonys thigh to the one behind the glass. Clearly it wasn't made just to be displayed. "Are they in circulation?" 

"The pistol is very popular, because it has a non lethal setting and it completely fries synthetics. The Projector not so much, that thing could even put the Hulk to sleep" 

Stephen’s about to ask why Stark even took the risk of boarding Banner when he grabs the railing under the display and pulls it with his whole body. A piece of the wall slowly slides toward them, and with another strain of Stark's muscles against the sleeves of his suit, he pushes it sideways. It slides to reveal a hidden room.

It's jarringly over-lit and when he cautiously follows Stark in he finds it's a walk in wardrobe of weapons. To his left and right are shelves stacked full with guns of all materials and sizes, filed side by side like books in a library. On the back wall are shelves behind a glass door with what looks like grenades, other classes of bomb, bullets and accessories like scopes. 

Stark unhooks the two guns on his back and puts them on the island in the middle of the room. "Can I interest you in a weapon? Maybe the Paladin, pretty reliable, or the Arc pistol, as I said it has a non lethal setting" 

"No thank you, I won't be needing a gun" 

Tony smiles at that, like he expected him to say it, and goes about finding a place for the two guns he's offloaded. 

After that they step out of the room and he once again strains to slide and refit the wall in its place. Stark is well built, he can see it in his arms when he slides the wall, and in his back when he pushes it into place. The bodysuit leaves the bunch and shift of his muscles fully on display. It makes sense, he clearly manages heavy weaponry, and he has to be fit to work the field. 

"Oh check it out" he says, stepping to the right and taking hold of a handle sticking out of the wall, the part that doesn't reveal a secret room. When he pulls it a glass casing follows, within is a long sword with a gold hilt. It's slightly curved on one side and juts out on the other, near the top of the blade, in a way that reminds him of a scalpel.

"This is the sword Bruce and I were talking about, be sure to come and look at it later" 

When he nods Stark leads the way across the Armory and through another door. They're back at the ship hologram.

Back in the elevator, Stark pushes 1. The last floor to see, finally. If he takes in any more information or meets another person he might burst. 

When it opens up they're already looking at one of those bulky doors he's seen too much of.

"This is my room, in case you need me after hours" Stark says, patting the metal door. It doesn't open automatically like the others.

They veer right and right again, into a corridor lined with doors on both sides. There must be about eight of them in total.

Three doors down the left side, Stark stops walking. "These doors are on private mode, they need to read your palm. Just rest it on the orange circle"

That day in Stark's office he took his prints, this must be one of the reasons.

Stephen removes his black and white glove and does as he's told. The circle turns green and the door gives way to a fairly bland room, something he's not unfamiliar with having lived in the Sanctum. 

On one side of the room there's a single bed with a dark metal frame and blue sheets, a small nightstand, some kind of compartment system built into the wall, a desk with a lamp on it under two shelves and a hotel looking door. The other side is a copy and paste of it. 

There are differences though, while both beds are perfectly made like they haven't been slept in, the desk on the left has nothing but a metal case on it and the desk on the right has three neatly stacked holo pads and a scale model of a jet. The shelves above it also have things, some that just look like gadgets and a few actual books. 

"We've put you with Everett-"

"Oh"

Tony stops in his tracks, "Hey he didn't mean the hiring randoms thing as an insult to you, he just likes busting my balls"

"Yeah, but I guess I have to prove myself, I'm not so used to that" he was at the top of his game in medicine, and when he went to the Masters it didn't take long for them to identify him as someone with gifts. Being doubted by others is a forgotten feeling.

"Maybe this'll be a grounding experience for you" He looks proud of his word choice. 

Stephen laughs dryly at the irony.

Stark leads the way to the right wall compartments and slides the biggest one open. Within are clothes on hangers, "all this is according to the measurements you gave Hope. If anything doesn't fit right let her know" 

Hung up he can see boiler suits, in black and navy with the white shield logo on them, also a navy bodysuit he probably won't be wearing much, three pairs of trousers, and two jumpers in navy and black. In the bottom of the wardrobe are a stack of tops, this time they branched out and gave him both light and dark grey on top of the two recurring colours. 

Tony closes that and leans over to pull out the thin drawer underneath it. It contains socks, vests and even boxers. They spared no expense.

In the final drawer are military boots, everyday trainers and sliders, all black. 

"That's your wardrobe, this is the bathroom" Stark steps over to the back wall and Stephen hadn't even noticed there was a door until a strip of wall slides open. "It's pretty… basic"

He's not sure if he would use basic, it looks like what he might imagine in a prison. There's a dark metal toilet, a wall mounted shower of the same material, with no bath or even glass to section it off, exposed shelves that don't look like they should be in a bathroom, and a sink with a mirror over it. At least the sink has space on either side. One side already has a toothbrush in a cup on it.

They walk back over to the desk and he notices there's a screen mounted next to the door. It doesn't appear to be a tv, it's showing messages, they look like notifications.

"You must be sick of my voice by now but it's important I run you through these" Stark says, unclipping and opening the case on the desk.

It has a lot of different things in it, he wouldn't know what to look at first if it weren't for Stark picking out a white box the size of his palm and clicking it open. 

"This is the most important thing for you up there okay?" He shows Stephen two small silver bars. He couldn't even guess what they are. "These deploy a bubble around your face that's sole job is to keep you oxygenated." Stark demonstrates, pressing each bar to the skin behind his ears and double tapping them both at the same time. A green hologram net forms around his face.

"It converts, absorbs and recycles to give you air for a short time, about 5 minutes. You have to wear these at all times, even when you're sleeping, they could save your life. You never know when a hole could get blown in a ship" he takes them off and hands them to him. Stephen presses them behind his ears like demonstrated and finds they aren't that noticeable. 

The next thing he recognises, it's the earpiece he's seen everybody wearing, "this you should also wear at all times, but probably not sleep with. It's an earpiece, we use it to communicate on the field and in the ship. It also is a translator, without it you're going to be a bit stuck when we get to other planets" Tony holds up the translucent earpiece and Stephen plucks it out of his fingers. Again it sits comfortably, clearly everything is designed to feel like it's not even there.

The next item the man picks up is a chain. Stephens very own dog tags with his name stamped on them and everything. "Your tags, another thing to be worn at all times. They trigger the automatic unlock of the ship doors and have a tracker if anything not good happens to you" 

"Lovely" he puts the chain on and stuffs it under his suit. 

"Omni tool" Tony says, holding up a thin gold bangle. He hands it to Stephen and pushes up the sleeve of his body suit to reveal his own one. "This device does it all. It scans, enacts transactions, records, displays maps, syncs with your other tech, provides health stats, contains many decryption programs and you can even charge it up to give enemies the smack down of their lives" 

Stark demonstrates each thing as he lists it, he taps once at the wrist end of his bangle to display a grid scanner, taps the same spot on his inner wrist to demo transactions, long presses the middle of it to start a recording, and again to end it, points at the inner where his bpm, the time, temperature and some percentage show, and swipes two fingers over the top side quickly to pull up a map of what looks like the floor they're on. He does it so quickly that if Stephen didn't have a photographic memory he wouldn't have caught any of it.

"And the last thing, your very own ID" Tony shows him a white card topped with a red stripe. The picture was taken by a machine in the Shield lobby. He looks serious and his hair is falling over his forehead, so no different than usual. 

"You won't have so much use for it up in the stars but it feels good to know you can 'pull rank' if you need to" Stark makes air quotes. 

He then checks the time on his inner wrist and sighs, "Well that's that. I have to get going, there's no busier time than take off, if you need anything at all ask Jarvis"

"Alright, thanks"

Tony smiles, that pleasant smile that he has. "No, thank you, I appreciate you joining us. Welcome to the family"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a lot. What are your thoughts? Did you see Christine coming? Did you love the bodysuit action? 
> 
> I think I'll stop posting daily now and space it out :)


	4. Hour Zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey so the new doctor huh?”
> 
> “Huh?”
> 
> “He’s, you know”
> 
> “Hot? Bruce you try and get me into every acceptable person you meet”
> 
> “I don’t know what else to-”
> 
> “I am working. We are at work. This is not the bachelor space edition”

It doesn't feel real. It doesn't feel real that in no time he won't be on Earth anymore. Stephen’s laying on his surprisingly comfortable bed staring through the ceiling window at the top of the warehouse and it doesn't feel like the view will soon be outer space. 

He's still mildly panicking, a primal part of him wants to take control of his legs and make him run until he's off the ship.

Looking at it as the job it is helps, it's not only that but an opportunity. His job is to know of the threats to Earth and be prepared to deal with them, the books can't show him what's out there like living it can. When he returns it'll be as a better Sorcerer Supreme.

There's a ding in the air that sounds like that of an airplane before the pilots announcement and Starks voice fills the room. "Cast and crew, it's your Commander here giving his traditional take off announcement. In a minute the Avenger is going to embark on its 4th tour of duty, thank you those of you who have joined us again and welcome those who are new. As a lot of you know we will be having a celebration in the Mess Hall in a few hours to mark the start of what'll be a successful crusade, don't forget to attend. And don't forget how important your work has been and will be to me, to us, we're Avengers and no one does it better than we do" 

Stephen props himself on his elbows to watch the warehouse ceiling split open and reveal a clear blue sky. 

"Word from Hawkeye is that I start the countdown. Off to the stars in 10, 9, 8…" 

He can hear machinery shifting, he can feel the soft buzz that's always faintly there start to build up. People are probably down in Engineering and the CIC running around making everything happen. He questions if they're excited to go back up, or if they're dreading it, or if they're like him, not knowing how to feel. 

Tony reaches 0 and the ship is vibrating. Stephen can hear the muffled engines and feel the vertigo the same way he would on an aircraft. Other than that nothing changes. He can't tell how tilted the ship is, or how fast it's going, just see blue smoke running across the glass above him in a pretty pattern. 

He's not sure what he expected, it isn't as if all the furniture and people not bolted to the ship would just fly to one side. It has its own centre of gravity. 

Noticing new pop ups, Stephen gets up and walks over to the wall mounted screen. It's updated it's notifications, adding Starks announcement in written form. 

To take his mind off the reality that he's going to space he pulls his bag out of the picket dimension and drops it on his desk. He brought three books, one on Asgardian magic he's just started studying, another on bridging the connection between the Sorcerer and the magic they pull and the third the Great Gatsby, a little book about a man shrouded in mystery and showered in grandiose that throws large extravagant parties but is really just a man obsessed with a woman. He read it a long time ago and figured it's time he refreshed. 

When he's done stacking the books on his shelf an intense light shines through the window and floods the room. It's gone in a second, replaced with black. 

Stephen doesn't have to think about it long, he slips out of his room and jogs to the elevator, pushing 3. 

The Starboard Observation is populated by quite a few people who probably had the same idea as him. He takes a spot behind a very short person and looks out the window to see space. 

It's amazing in a simple way, all it is is darkness dotted by distant stars, but he can't look away.

“I have never seen such youthful awe in you” Chirstine says next to him. 

“You saying I’m old?” he asks, wondering if they’ll get close enough to any of the stars to see them as something other than little dots on a black canvas.

“You know if you stay Clint does a turn so you can see Earth” Bruce says from Christine's other side.

Bit by bit crew members file out, likely having duties to attend to. Stephen, Chris, Bruce and Shuri all sit together on one of the curved couches and watch quietly for a while. Tony said Shuri is new too, and he can see it in her expression, she’s bright and excited. 

Shuri notices him watching her and smiles wider, “I’ve known about Starks ship since it was in development and I never stopped begging my family to go on it. Every christmas that was all I asked for, but every time they would tell me I was too young. When I was 16 they got sick of it and let me talk to the Commander about joining the last tour, he refused. I even contacted him behind my parents back and offered him vibranium, the strongest metal on earth, but he still refused, he told me it was too dangerous”

“And now you're here” He observes, clearly she doesn't stop until she gets what she wants. 

“I’m 18, the minimum age for Shield applications. I sat an interview with the secretary, Van Dyne. She was so impressed by me she told me that even though her boss asked her to turn me away she would set up a meeting with him. I made sure I impressed him even more, he had to hire me”

“I mean the job isn’t so dangerous if you don't touch the field” Christine says. 

“Exactly. I didn't come to fight anyway, I came to see the universe” Shuri grins. Stars sparkle in her brown eyes. 

“Why did you come, Stephen? I know you’re here to fight but everybody has their deeper reasons” Banner asks. 

“Well I was tricked first of all,” Christine kicks him, “but I really am here because I found out Earth was in danger and Stark gave me a way to help that not be the case. And like Shuri, a part of me just wants to see things I’ve never seen before” All the panic from before take off left him when he saw the stars, all that’s left is a thirst for more. “What about you Dr Banner?”

“I actually didn’t want to be here on the first tour, being in an enclosed vehicle in outer space was just a recipe for disaster for me. The honest truth is Tony can’t live without me,” he laughs, “We worked together at Shield when he ran R&D and he asked me probably 300 times to join the crew. He’s very determined and very cute when he wants to be, eventually I cracked”

Stephens brows fly up, “Stark? Cute?” sure he’s short and has big eyes but he doesn’t act cute at all, at most cheeky. 

Bruce chuckles, “Yeah you’d be surprised, he as the puppy eye pouty thing down”

“He does remind me of a dog” Shuri says.

“You guys know Jarvis is always listening right?” Christine murmurs, like somehow that would get past the AI. 

Bruce waves a hand, “It’s alright, he only passes information if Tony asks directly or if it’ll actually be useful to him. He’s too busy to be told Shuri finds him dog like”

“But don’t you think? His energy is always too high, it’s suspicious” she insists. Stephen has to agree, he’s high functioning at all times, so far as he’s seen.

Bruce's expression turns serious and he looks through the window like he’s seen something in the black abyss. “Yeah because he puts it on” 

Stephen’s about to ask why when Shuri jumps out of the couch and leaps to the window. Something of a light blue is coming into view. It’s the curve of Earth.

The three of them join her in front of the glass and watch as more reveals itself. The edge of the planet looks like it has a blue glow and as more comes into view they see the white floss of clouds and tan patches of land. 

The pictures don’t compare to really seeing their home from the outside. All the battles in the world, and the ideals he disbelieves in and the ones he follows become one unified thing. They’re all Earth. 

He understands why Tony walks around like everywhere he steps is his house, because he’s learned the same way Stephen is that Earth, all of Earth, is his home. 

The four of them stay and absorb the view for what feels like an age and no time at all. They stay until Barton has turned back on course and they can’t see Earth anymore, even if they press their cheeks to the glass, as Shuri is sure to test. 

When he gets back to his room there’s no sign of Everett. Stephen hopes that’s the norm, that he’s always busy. He prefers to be alone with his thoughts and books and he’s not entirely sure how much the agent favours him yet. He figures it could be worse, that he could have been put with Rhodes.

Bruce assured him he didn’t need to come to the labs for the day so he lets the cloak roam free and picks up his technique book, taking it to his bed. Using complex gestures to perform spells isn’t practical in a war with attacks coming from all sides, he needs to cut down the time it takes him to execute attacks and defences drastically.

For about twenty minutes he reads fine, but after his concentration starts to drop. It’s not something that usually happens but so many curiosities swim in his head, like what exactly goes on day to day on the ship, and what the hell Stark is hiding under that mask he wears. 

Unlike a regular person, he has a way to discover things very easily, so he puts his book down, drapes his arms over his stomach and closes his eyes. 

His astral form floats out of his body and across the room. He leaves it behind, guarded by the cloak and floats along the corridors until he’s in front of Stark's bedroom door. A bedroom can say a lot about a person, or it can’t, if Stark takes military lifestyle seriously and doesn’t own many personal items. 

Pushing away the thought that he’s about to invade someone's privacy, he slips through the door. The first thing he sees makes him gasp. Tony has a big fish tank built into his left wall, it’s a vivid blue and contains purple fish with yellow fins and blue ones with lighter blue stripes. He’s never seen either type before. 

To the right is an L shaped desk with two holo laptops on it and a glass case above it with model ships inside. One of them he recognises is a model of the Avenger itself, another looks like a half open metal flower, one that’s just two bronze interlocking rings, and finally there's a gold ship that resembles the shape of a star. 

On the other side of the desk are three frames, two of them medals issued by shield and the last a photograph of a woman with strawberry blonde hair in a white business dress. She’s standing in front of some glass paneling, outside where the setting sun illuminates her. She's pretty. He figures she must be Tony’s partner. 

Stephen floats down two steps to see the rest of the room, there's a corner to the right that looks like a social space, with a couch and two chairs facing a low table with a lamp and three empty glasses on it. Next to that is another, smaller desk, it has holo pads, bits of tech and tools on it, much like his office desk did, but it also has a glass box on it with a circle device inside it. Around the perimeter of the device he reads; ‘Proof that Tony Stark has a heart’.

It raises a lot of questions, like what the device is, who gave it to him, and why proof that Tony has a heart would even be necessary. 

Mulling it over, he continues his investigation. On the nightstand there’s just one thing, a clock with hologram handles. It’s also the source of the quiet beat of music he could hear when he floated in, it’s nothing exciting, just something to remove the silence. It’s pretty clear Tony doesn't like silence. 

Lucky him, the man has a double bed. He would give himself a double bed too if he designed the ship. All in all the room is great, ignoring metal flooring and walls, and some exposed wires, it’s somewhere he would be happy to live in general. It’s the music and the tank, they’re calming. 

When he leaves the room, Stephen reviews what he’s learned about Stark; he has a girlfriend, likes fish and dislikes silence. It’s pretty useless all in all, and really he gained more questions than answers. 

He floats down through the floor and finds himself in the Armory. He can hear Bruce’s voice through the glass so he crosses over into the Research lab. 

He’s looking at Bruce and Stark huddled in front of a glass containment box. Stark has a white strap around his wrist and two smaller ones on his thumb and index, the movements of his hand control a robot claw within the containment glass. It’s holding a rock, the one Banner was testing when they met. Stark leads the claw down toward a blue circular device that looks a lot like the one he had on his desk. The claw drops the stone down into the device and it closes over with a thin film of glass. 

Tony and Bruce are barely breathing as they watch the thing. Stephen watches it too, wondering what they expect to see. 

Nothing happens. 

“Yes!” Tony exclaims, raising his hand to high five Bruce. He’s still wearing his bodysuit but it’s unzipped to the belt, leaving him in a black tank top. Seeing him dressed down confirms Stephen's findings of his muscled build. 

“The question is does it work?” Bruce says, still smiling a little. 

“We can test that” Tony slides up the protective glass and gestures for Bruce to back up. He keeps gesturing until the doctor is through the door and watching from the other side of the Armory glass. Then Tony himself backs up a few paces and detaches his pistol from his leg. He angles his body away slightly and shoots a blue blast at the thing. The object generates a barely visible blue field that seems to absorb the attack, leaving it unharmed. 

“Well there’s your kinetic barrier” Bruce says, fully smiling as he walks back toward him. 

Tony sighs happily and reattaches the gun. “I love Element Zero” he closes the glass and crosses over to one of the white workbenches, it has a bag of blueberries and a glowing triangular device on it among other parts and tools.

“Have you got the nanites responding to the neural link yet?” Banner asks, going to a different work bench. 

“Ugh no, I’m tweaking it now” Tony falls into a stool and hunches over the device. He taps his temple and a strip of blue holograms wraps over his eyes. The HUD seems like it’s aiding him as he inserts extremely thin tools into the device. 

“Hey so the new doctor huh?” Bruce says after a few moments of them silently working. 

Stephen turns to look at the guy, wondering where he’s going with the question. 

Tony seems just as confused, side glancing his colleague, “Huh?”

“He’s, you know” Bruce gestures with his hands as if it’ll clear anything else. 

Tony seems to understand it though, because he groans. “Hot? Bruce you try and get me into every acceptable person you meet”

Stephen hasn’t been complimented for his looks since he was a flashy doctor. He would be flattered if he wasn’t lost. 

“I don’t know what else to-”

“I am working. We are at work. This is not the bachelor space edition” Tony replies sternly, continuing with his tinkering. 

“You don’t technically work with Steve but you keep blowing him off” Bruce murmurs. 

That makes Tony sit up and drop his tools on the table. “Blow- what? We barely like each other”

“Yeah because he’s grappling to accept that he’s into a man”

So he was right about what he saw at the elevator in HQ. 

“Well I’m not interested” Tony picks up his tools again, looking well and done with the conversation. 

“Shuri is onto you” Bruce blurts. Stephen hadn’t realised how odd the guy is, with all the strange conversation he’s making. 

Tony stops, “What?”

“She can tell you’re not normal”

Tony doesn't look offended by that, “What about the Commander of a spaceship is normal?”

“I just… I think hiding that you’re not okay won’t fix it”

Stephen’s starting to understand, he’s also starting to regret that he’s eavesdropping. 

Tony digs back into whatever he's working on, oblivious to him and Bruce watching him. Bruce looks profoundly sad.

It’s a while before Tony speaks again, and when he does it’s a quiet murmur, “Some broken things can’t be fixed” 

Stephen turns around to leave. 

Hope bursts into the labs looking mildly disturbed, “Commander, Ronan has attacked Xandar”

Tony’s moth falls open, “Shit. How fast can we get there?”

“We can’t, his ship is crashing into the planet right now” 

Tony and Bruce look at eachother, then both drop everything and run to follow Hope out of the labs. 

Stephen doesn’t follow them. He feels like shit. He has no right to hear Tony’s struggle, information like that is personal or it’s earned. Stephen hasn’t earned a thing.

He sighs and closes his eyes, finding the energy of his body and letting himself be pulled toward it until he’s back together. 

If Tony has a picture of a woman in his room but he’s single he can only conclude he lost that woman, probably on the field. It’s something he wishes he didn’t know, but actions have consequences. 

He’s laying down for what feels like hours, in and out of sleep, but certainly out when the doors hiss and he’s not alone anymore. Craning his neck he watches Everett drop a holo pad on his desk as he eyes the cloak. The fabric stands firm, like it's staring him down, daring him to oppose it.

“He’s cool when you get to know him”

“Don’t tell me it talks” Everett gives it a funny look.

“No thank god” the cloak looks at him with indignation but he just shrugs. He can tell the thing would be chatty if it could talk. 

“You know the takeoff party started 20 minutes ago right?” Everett calls from the bathroom. Water runs for a second. 

Stephen sits up and groans out the sulk in him. “I don’t know if I’m going”

“You like music?”

“Love it”

Everett paces out of the bathroom, pushing his hair back with his fingers, “Then you should go. And let me tell you, a lot of us call it the Eve party, because it’s one of the only chances you’ll get to eat fresh fruit on this tour”

“Didn’t Eve regret eating the fruit?”

“I’m heading there now, if you don’t make friends early in the tour you won't make friends at all”

Stephen’s about to tell Everett he doesn’t need friends, but he’s already gone. He’s glad, because saying something like that sounds stupid. 

He has to concede Everett is right, he doesn't want to get halfway through the tour and have barely anyone he feels comfortable talking to. And he could use an apple. 

Since Everett didn’t change out of his uniform jumper and pants, Stephen figures the party isn’t anything to dress up for so he changes into his navy jumper and a pair of black pants. When he’s done fixing his hair he almost walks straight into the cloak, “What? You wanna come?”

The collar nods. 

“Okay but I don’t know you” the cloak slaps him on the arm and he laughs, “I’m kidding man” 

As promised, when he steps out of the elevator Stephen hears music filling the hall, AC/DC. It’s busy, the tables are almost fully occupied and groups of people stand around with drinks or food in hand chatting happily. He notices more people are eating fruit than drinking, something that would be bizarre if Everett hadn’t told him what he did. 

Stephen goes straight for the table and snatches up a red apple, then scopes out the area. He spots Rhodes leaning on the kitchen counter in the corner, talking to Tony, Natasha and the guy with the arm, Barnes. That area is for sure ruled out, he doesn't want to interact with Rhodes unless he needs to and he doubts he can look at Stark without the guilt showing on his face like an ugly zit. There’s Everett and Shuri sitting at a table talking, but he wouldn’t know what to say if he went up to them. 

The cloak isn’t as cautious as he is, it floats up to Thor and Mary Jane and offers them a goofy wave as a greeting. Stephen smiles and keeps looking, until his eyes find Christine and Banner chatting by the Med bay entrance. 

“There has to be a joke here right? Three doctors and one apple” he says when he walks up to the two. 

Bruce’s brow quirks, “Are you insinuating one apple has the power to keep us all away?” 

“I don’t know, let’s see if it survives long enough” He takes a big bite out of it. It tastes good, makes coming down worth it. 

Christine smiles at him, “Stephen did I ever tell you you look like an asshole when you eat apples?”

“Must you attack me for existing?”

People in the room start cheering and when he turns around he discovers it’s because Natasha and Clint have taken to the floor to show off their dance moves, however well one can dance to heavy metal. 

“Do you think Clins sober? Because if he isn’t I’m jumping off this thing” Bruce says.

Stephen laughs, and he feels better. He hasn’t been surrounded by music and dancing and humour in years. 

Someone slaps a hand on his shoulder. Stephen twists to see the hand is connected to Tony.

“Hey! Three doctors, one apple. There has to be a joke there”   
Chris and Bruce look at Stephen then both start laughing. He does too a bit. Maybe that was intended to be the joke, that somebody else would be on his exact wavelength.

It’s strange though, to see Tony all jokes and smiles when he knows what he does. Tagging him as high functioning was all too accurate. 

The song merges into a beat he recognises immediately. Michael Jackson, Don’t Stop Till’ you Get Enough. Naturally it gets more people up and dancing. 

Christine claps her hands together, “Oh guys let’s dance!”

“I can’t say no to 80’s MJ” Tony agrees. 

“I’ll pass-” 

“Stephen you own this album on vinyl don't be a baby” Christine yanks him and Tony does the same to Bruce until the four of them are embedded in the group of dancers and have no choice but to join the buzzing energy. 

Stephen lets himself have fun, because this isn’t Earth, it isn't the Sanctum, he can be free from an image of an intellectual. On the Avenger he’s just another part of the running cog that is the crew, he’s just a guy. 

And Tony’s having fun, despite the pain he’s in he’s laughing and bopping to the music, he could never damper that.

The song fades but when Boogie Wonderland starts up there’s no excuse, they have to keep going. To his surprise Everett and Shuri join them, serving up the best moves and after them even Rhodes comes into the fold. 

Stephen twirls Christine away and toward him in a spirit that takes him back to the galas they attended, and gives Shuri a go too. In an unexpected turn of events he and Everett get into a duo, emulating the step and sway from the music video, then the sway and clap, like two absolute nerds. His impression of Everett wasn’t at all what he’s seeing, he thought he was serious and crude but he can really have fun.

“Everett you have rhythm, are you sure you’re in the right line of work?” he says once the music dies to something less upbeat and they’ve moved to the spot next to the Med bay. 

“I’ve always kind of wanted to be a DJ” he stage whispers. 

“There’s your retirement plan” 

Bruce and Tony join them, and Thor appears from a different direction.

"Hey point break, having fun?" Tony asks him as he picks a grape off the vine and puts it in his mouth. 

"Yes, the Sorcerers cloak is very entertaining"

"He has a big personality," Stephen says. It's a blessing and a curse. 

Thor steps closer to Tony, "Stark I wanted to ask you, how is Xandar?" 

"Okay, they lost some people but the Nova Core and Ravergers did a good job. And some group called Guardians of the Galaxy saved the planet from being levelled by an infinity stone, thank god"

The buzz of the party dies in him, replaced by caution, "Wow hold on, what do you people know about infinity stones?" 

Tony becomes very serious, "What do you know about the infinity stones?" 

The five of them stand very quietly. Tony's staring at him hard enough to burn a hole between his eyes. Then he takes him by the elbow and pulls him into the Med Bay.

When they're all inside and the door is closed Tony sits on one of the patient beds. "Spill"

"Why should I? You spill" he crosses his arms and stands his ground. 

Tony points a warning finger at him, "You don't tell me what to do"

He moves his attention to Thor in the corner of the room, "Thor you know about the Tesseract right?"

"Yes, and I told the Commander"

"Stark, did you tell any of the people at shield?" 

"No"

"Including Fury"

Tony looks at Banner for a second, "No, I couldn't" 

"Okay, Fury has the cube and I think it's better he doesn't know it's power" he explains, the man was already doing tests on it, he doesn't need him to get any more ideas. 

"Your turn" Bruce tells him. 

He takes a deep breath and decides to just come out with it, "I'm the keeper of the time stone"

They're all shocked to silence and Everett manages to break out of it first, "You what?"

"Half my job is to look after the time stone"

"You brought an infinity stone onto my ship and didn't tell me?" Tony hisses, gripping the edge of the bench he's sitting on. 

"No of course not, it's taken care of. I'm only concerned, two stones on Earth isn't good" 

Tony says what he's thinking, "Right, it puts a target on our back"

"Who do you actually trust at Shield?" 

"Uh, Rogers. And Coulson"

"You should tell them to keep an eye on it"

Tony nods, "Right"

"Loki tried to take the Tesseract, maybe that's why he wants to destroy Earth" Stephen says, trying to fit the pieces together in his head. 

"No he wants to overthrow and rule it" Thor corrects.

"Well that's never going to work" Tony murmurs. 

"I love your planet, he's doing it to hurt me" Thor explains. 

Everett frowns. "Is he 12?" 

"He misunderstands, and he's bitter"

Tony pushes off the bench, "Well we'll stop him, just like we stopped Hydra and the 10 rings"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In editing this chapter I found it kind of dry, except the party scene, I had fun with that. The next chapter is more exciting though :)


	5. The Citadel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It barely reflects anything" 
> 
> "Really? Odd" 
> 
> "Do you see something?" 
> 
> "Yeah, you, but not me" 
> 
> "Maybe you're a vampire"

When Stephen wakes up Everett's still away with his dreams. He takes the opportunity to shower, without any glass around it he feels exposed but figures he'll just have to get used to it and finishes up. As he attempts to tame his hair in front of the mirror he can hear movement in the room, likely Everett waking up. After the conversation in the Med Bay the guy had a lot of questions about what makes someone qualified to guard an infinity stone and Stephen explained as best he could, and had to admit that he probably isn't that qualified, but no human could be. 

"Stephen, we have an Operations meeting in 10 minutes, get out of the bathroom" Everett calls. 

He finishes up and strolls out with his towel tight around his waist. While Everett uses the shower Stephen looks over his limited range of clothes and puts on a grey t-shirt and pants. 

As is the polite thing, he waits for Everett to be ready and they go to the elevator together. 

"Do you give the operations meetings?"

Everett pushes the elevator button, "Only if the Commander can't for whatever reason. Maria and I take care of actually forming the operations and he delivers the information in the meeting"

"It doesn't bother you that he takes your glory?"

He snorts, "Glory? These meetings are less exciting than you must be picturing. Plus, he's very involved in the process, so it's not like he's robbing ideas and he knows all the plans well enough not to botch the explanation"

"I'm kind of confused by him, he seems to do everything" Stephen says as they walk out into the CIC.

Everett looks over and nods, "That's exactly it"

"But how? How does he have time and brain space to build guns and make plans and complete research and-"

"The thing is Stark is a genius, not in a very smart way, in an actual genius way. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't sleep" 

On the conference table are mugs of what smells like coffee, buttered toast on a hot plate and cups of yogurt. Everett veers toward it and picks up a mug and yogurt. Stephen just goes for toast. 

"What made you work for him? 

Everett sips his coffee, "I'm former CIA and I was tasked to investigate Shield when it started becoming apparent that something wasn't right. I worked with Steve Rogers to flush Hydra out and by proxy I met the Commander. He asked me to help him remove Hydra somewhere other than Earth and I just thought, 'that's nuts, I'm doing it'" 

They move on to the Operations room where a crowd of familiar faces are gathered around the ring in the middle of the room. There's no sign of Tony so they're chatting amongst themselves. 

"Hey dancing queens" Natasha says when they find a spot next to her.

Everett moves his coffee from his lips and makes a disgusted face, "That is the first and last time I wanna hear that" 

It's then that Rhodey walks in, followed by Stark. 

Stephen’s seen Tony look like an asshole, a businessman and a fairly racy secret agent but what he's looking at now can only be called soft. 

His hair doesn't have any product in it so it looks a little unruly but supper fluffy, he has toast hanging out of his mouth and he's wearing a comfortable looking light grey Shield jumper with the sleeves pushed up. He looks like someone's attractive neighbour.

God he finds his boss attractive. 

Then again it's hard not to, Stephen watches people make space for Tony to join the fold and the guy glows in comparison, despite his demons he's bright. 

"Hey," he starts, ripping a chunk out of his toast, "welcome everyone to our first Op meeting of the tour. As usual we're headed to the Citadel right now so crew can enjoy leisure while they can, and we need to stock up on more materials for the Thanix Cannon. Rhodey, Bucky and I are going to take care of picking up the uranium and tungsten for that. Once we’re off the Citadel we’ll be looking for Rocket, we don’t know his exact position right now but we’ll know by the time we leave the Citadel. We’ll have to be docked for a while and allocate any crew member that can help to build the cannon but it’ll be worth it. Once we have it we’ll take the fight to the Chitauri. Questions?” Tony braces his hands on the surface in front of him and looks around the room.

Stephen wants to ask why they’re stalling the fight so much but Maria the shuttle pilot speaks up first, “Are we assuming the Chitauri are just going to wait around for us?” 

“No, but without the Tesseract they’ll have to physically travel to the Sol system and that’ll take them a while. We’ll intercept them wherever they are and blow them to hell” Rhodes explains. 

Tony nods as he rubs his fingers together to get rid of breadcrumbs, “Yeah, guys I know this sounds like we’re going to wonder about like idiots until it's too late but this ship wasn't built for assault, we want to take them on before they land on any planet and for that we need the Avenger to perform” 

Stephen leans close to Everett to whisper, “What was this ship built for?”

“Strategic reconnaissance” he whispers back. 

He assumes that means exploration. 

“Okay people we’ll be arriving at the Citadel in T minus four hours. Make yourselves busy.” Tony calls, gesturing to encourage everyone to scatter. It has the desired effect, the huddle begins to thin out as people split off. 

“Alright roomie I have a rat to find, see you later” Everett salutes and walks around the ring to talk to Maria Hill. 

That leaves him walking back with Natasha. When he turns into the conference room to grab a yogurt she follows, “Do you spar at all Stephen?”

“With weapons, like spears and batons. My hands can’t handle punching. Why?” he narrows his eyes at her, trying to figure her out. 

She smiles slyly, “I guess I want to see you in action”

“You strike me as someone who’s watched the footage of me fighting Loki” he argues, leading the way out of the conference room. 

“That was not a fight. You appeared in a circle of light and kicked him, he hit you with his stick and gave a stupid speech, then you launched him back into the portal and deactivated the cube. I want to see you under pressure”

Stephen chuckles. Loki was ridiculous, and a little too easy to fight considering he’s an Asgardian. 

He stops in front of the lab door, “If this army is worth its salt, I’m sure you will”

Natasha holds the elevator open and leans out of it to smile at him, “Well if you ever do want to spar we have a box in the gym”

Mulling the proposition over, he steps into the lab. Thankfully Tony isn’t in the room, just Bruce and a man he hasn’t seen before. They’re discussing something about the drive core and he leaves them to it, walking around them and to the Armory. 

There’s only one person there, Colonel Rhodes. He’s sat on a counter with a big yellow and silver gun in his lap and a tool in hand. They look at each other for a moment, and Stephen feels scrutinised. Then the guy gets back to fiddling in the gun's interior. 

Huffing out of his nose, Stephen turns around and pulls out the drawer he remembers that scalpel sword is in. To his convenience the display can actually be taken out of the wall so he can carry the thing to a workbench that looks unclaimed and is a safe distance from Rhodes. 

He takes a second to just observe the blade, walking around the table and cataloguing it. The weapon has a charge to it, he can feel it, it's definitely more than what meets the eye. 

If it's really Asgardian he should probably consult with Thor, he would surely have something interesting to say. 

He remembers that the bangle on his wrist has a scanner in it and activates it, running up and down the sword until it beeps and a panel projects out of the device with information. It seems the blade is made from Uru metal, he knows it, it's the material of Thor's hammer. Weirdly the hilt of the sword is plated in Nanominium, a material he also recognises that's used for its anti-magical properties.

The only way the combination would make sense is if the two materials don't cancel each other but rather the uru stores magic and the nanominium protects the user from the magic of enemies. 

What he doesn't understand is why it causes a reaction when people hold it, if those people don't have magic in them anyway. 

Curious, he takes his sling ring from the pocket dimension and opens a small portal to the observation deck. When he leans into it there's no sign of Thor, instead he reads the spines of books hoping to find something good. 

Eventually he sees something called 'Nidavellir: Crafting techniques' and snatches it up. He read about it being the origin of Thor's hammer.

When Stephen closes the portal Rhodes is staring at him slack jawed. He offers a polite smile and turns around so flip open the book. 

Before he can start reading he notices something strange, the blade is reflecting the ceiling, and the edge of the book, but not him. When he holds the book over the blade it looks like it's floating, his hand and wrist aren't there. 

He loses time reading about Uru and it's unlimited capabilities to store magical energies as well as the user's ability to lend an uru weapon their strength to make it in turn stronger. 

Becoming aware that there's a conversation going on the other side of the room is a slow process. Eventually he realises the voices belong to Stark and Rhodes so he peels his eyes off the book to look over his shoulder at them. 

Rhodes is handing him the gun he was working on and Tony looks it over with appreciation, the way Stephen’s seen him look at most technology. 

If he were to assume Stark’s just come from the gym, judging by the tank top and shorts as well as the towel he has thrown over his head. 

Stephen can't wait to see him on the field, it seems too unreal that he's so smart, a genius, yet also combatant. It's always been one or the other, norms dictate that big muscles mean small minds and visa versa. But Stark is an inhuman human, he defies the normal. 

He turns back to his book and concedes that Starks strengths are probably with guns, if he makes them he should understand them more than most, it should make his aim good, knowing the weight of a gun, the extent of its recoil, the distance it can handle. And a quick mind often means quick reactions. 

"Hey Doctor, how goes it?" 

Stark's voice makes him look up from the book, but only a little, because something snags his interest. 

"Wait, come closer"

He hears Tony take a step closer but it's not quite enough so Stephen takes him by the arm and nudges him forward just a little, so they're standing shoulder to shoulder. 

"Do you see that?" The blade shows Tony's reflection, but as far as it's concerned he's standing next to a floating book. 

"What?" 

"The reflection in the blade"

Tony leans until his nose is almost touching the glass, "It barely reflects anything" 

Stephen frowns at nothing. "Really? Odd" 

Tony straightens and those big eyes watch him curiously, "Do you see something?" 

"Yeah, you, but not me" 

Tony pushes out his lips in thought, "Maybe you're a vampire" 

He offers the flattest look he can muster, "Or it's trying to tell us something"

Tony shrugs, pulling the towel off his head and throwing it over his shoulder, "Whatever that means, I hope you figure it out. I'm gonna freshen up, the Citadel is an upstanding joint"

"Upstanding how?" He asks as he walks away. 

Tony faces him and walks backward, "Suit up, people take us more seriously if we look ready to kick ass"

He leaves and Stephen snorts. The Citadel can't be that upstanding if they have to look threatening. 

-

"Attention crew, the Avenger has now docked at the D24. Happy shopping and I'll see you in 3 hours, Terran" a voice announces through the ship, probably Barton. 

Crew members file out of the ship through the airlock and he stays put next to Shuri. As the new blood they agreed they'll be lost together. 

"So who's showing Stephen and Shuri around?" Stark asks, as if he could read their minds. 

"I will" Bruce volunteers. 

"Cool, we'll see you around" Tony salutes and he, Rhodes and Barnes join the flow of staff leaving the ship. 

The tree of them hang back until the flow thins out and they're among the last people to leave. As Stephen walks toward the exit he feels like he should hold his breath, he's about to step on ground that isn't Earths.

Shuri isn't of the same mind, she runs ahead and out into the bright space. She looks around and squeals at whatever she's seeing.

When Stephen exhales and steps off of grey and onto white flooring he completely understands why she did. A gasp punches out of him as he looks around, and up. Vehicles that look like the shuttles the Avenger has on the bottom deck of several colours zip above them, making quiet sounds. 

There's nature around them. He joins Shuri at a glass railing to look out at the lakes below them that shoot up water like fountains, and the trees or plants growing from balconies on the other side of the lakes. It's oddly familiar, like an ideal, futuristic version of Earth. 

Bruce waits patiently until the two of them are ready to move on, and leads the way through a door into a corridor with two blue hologram grid walls in it. Bruce walks through one, stops, then walks through the next. Shuri copies him eagerly. 

What he finds when he's between the two films is that there's a creature behind a desk watching. It's wearing blue and grey armour and it's definitely alien, it has textured skin, a pointed forehead and pointed tentacles going back instead of a round head.

"What?" It says, with a voice that sounds gargled. It has lots of pointed teeth in its mouth.

Stephen slips through the second hologram and catches up with Shuri and Bruce.

The holo panels were probably security scans, he's not sure for what though, because he's certainly wearing metal and Bruce has a gun on his belt but neither of them set any alarms off. 

"This is bay D24, where we always dock when we come here. It's our personal spot" Bruce explains. 

Shuri runs off and he watches her stand in front of a woman. Well, a woman projected from a station built into the floor as a pink toned hologram.

"Hello?"

"Hello Princess Shuri" the woman replies, by her voice he realises she's an AI. 

"Wow who's she?" Shuri asks Bruce.

"Friday. Tony built her for the Citadel"

His brows fly up and he looks at the woman again. She's modelled after a human, with a bob cut that's a little longer on one side than the other and in a smart dress. She reminds him of the woman in Tony's room. 

And he really made her for this place, clearly his signature goes beyond Shield and the Avenger. 

Shuri activates her omni tool and takes a picture of her, "She's like Jarvis with a body" 

"How has Jarvis been treating you all?" The woman asks them, smiling placidly. Her emotional responses seem so real. 

"As politely as always, these two are new, don't mind them" Bruce tells her, like he's just talking to an old friend. 

"Then it's a good thing I'm here, my job is to be your assistant during your visit on the Citadel, ask me anything" 

"Do you run the Citadel like Jarvis runs the Avenger?" Shuri questions.

"Not to such an extent, I have control of some security mechanisms but my primary purpose is helping visitors" 

She’s about to ask another question when Bruce drags her away by the arm, "Okay Shuri let's go, someone's waiting" 

The person in question looks inspired by human anatomy, except having no nose or hair and being as yellow as a Simpson. 

"Bye Friday" 

The three of them continue on down a path and Stephen watches people on the sub level to the right line up to use what looks like vending machines and holographic consoles. Some of them look human, others vary slightly, and a few are completely alien. 

When they go through a door they find a lot less people but quite a few parked shuttles. A creature of the same species as the one at the security checkpoint guards them. 

At the end of the corridor is an elevator, and when they go inside it speaks, “Avenger status recognised”

“Is the status actually worth anything?” he asks Bruce. 

“Yeah, it gets us to the Embassy tower. It’s a really nice place. Tony hates it, says the councillors are annoying and it ruined it for him” he replies, tapping an option labelled ‘Presidium’.

Councillors, interesting. Every day he learns more about just how established the galaxy is. He feels stupid for believing that the only thing scientists found outside Earth was basic plant life. “Do we have a human councillor?”

“No, humanity is relatively new to the scene, times haven’t changed to accommodate them, of course. Tony and Rhodes have been lobbying to get a former Spectre to become a councillor though” 

“A what?”

“Spectres are individuals hand picked by the council and given extensive authority in order to ‘preserve galactic stability by whatever means necessary'’” he says the last part dramatically. It seems dramatic, the thought that a small group can do anything they want as long as it’s beneficial to the galaxy. 

“Fancy” Stephen's not too on board with the concept, nothing good ever came of giving someone too much power. 

The elevator opens and they walk out into a place filled with the bustle of people and the sound of rushing water, “Alright kids, welcome to Presidium Commons. Anyone peckish?”

Shuri agrees immediately, wide eyed and excited to try non Earth food. Stephen follows them, happy to just take in his surroundings. He’s not so sure about food though, god knows if the human body is built to digest whatever it is they offer on a space station. 

In their journey they pass a lot of advertisements, on huge wall mounted screens and on digital tubes. Their presence is familiar, like a slice of Times Square, even if their content is completely foreign to him. 

As they go down some stairs a man and a woman come up on the other side. They look like humans, he doesn’t recognise their blue and gold uniform but there's nothing alien about their appearance.

“Were they humans?”

Bruce glances up at them and smiles, “No they’re Xandarians, some of them look just like us, others are yellow and pink. The only humans you’ll be seeing out here are Systems Alliance, dispatched by the UN, and Hydra. But let’s hope we don't see those guys” 

They get to a place called Apollo's Café and Bruce instructs them to get a table while he orders. It’s really nice, it feels like sitting outside, with the water and greenery and the almost perfect replication of natural light. He has to follow Shuris lead and take a picture of the view. 

When Bruce comes back and catches them he insists they take a picture together, so he unclasps his bangle, rests it on the table facing the view, and Shuri takes care of yanking the two around until they’re in frame. 

It’s a nice picture, they all look happy, even him, that only smiled a tiny bit. The cloak gave him bunny ears, asshole. 

Soon a creature with a long face, huge far apart eyes and three fingers delivers them three glasses of purple liquid and a bowl of… something. It looks like half cooked slightly yellow chicken cut into chunky round slices. 

“Don't make that face, this drink is very popular across the galaxy, and that is Thresher Maw”

“You know Bruce I’d rather live to see another day”

Shuri doesn't share the sentiment, she takes a brave gulp of the drink. Then makes a screwed up face. “Is this asid?”

Bruce laughs, then continues sipping on his drink.

It makes Stephen curious so he brings the glass to his lips and lets the smallest amount trickle through. He understands Shuris reaction, it tastes like straight lemon juice, with no water or sugar to mellow the edge. 

“It’s like coffee, you hate it on the first taste but soon you’re drinking it every day” Bruce says.

Not dissuaded by the potent drink, Shuri picks up a chunk of the Thresher and bites it. Again she makes a face, more of slight disgust. “It’s slimy” 

Again, Stephen has to know, so he tries it too. He’s confused by it at first, not sure how he feels, but then he finds it tastes like octopus. 

“So? Nice right? It’s just cheap octopus” 

Bruce gets them both water as an apology for putting them through that purple window cleaner. It comes in a tall glass bottle and it tastes really smooth, like a new iteration of H2O. 

The three of them stay at the café for a while, Shuri and Stephen mostly ask Bruce questions about Thresher Maws and the different species they’ve seen. Bruce tells them a crazy story about them fighting a Thresher on their first tour, apparently they’re almost impossible to defeat when they’re fully grown so Tony decided to fly into its mouth and blow it up from the inside. It died but as a result of it’s acidic interior Tony’s armour melted and he was in the Med Bay for four days having it removed from his body. 

As is natural for people like them, their talk moves on to science. They spend an age discussing Banner's research on gamma radiation but eventually it becomes more personal, about Bruce’s failure to recreate the super soldier serum and the birth of the Hulk. 

“What was it like meeting Steve Rogers after all that?” Stephen asks after they leave the table and follow Bruce down some more stairs. 

He heads for some counters on the right of the level, they look like shops, and skims over the listings on consoles as he replies, “Well we met at a meeting, so we didn’t have time to talk, but he expressed that he didn’t care about the Hulk, that I was there for my expertise. I appreciated that”

“I hear he’s good with words” Stephen says, trying not to sound too sarcastic. Rogers is an interesting phenomenon, sure, but there’s something about the guy he doesn’t like, probably that he appears too perfect and just. 

“We didn’t really connect past that, we don’t see each other much and when we do he usually only has eyes for Tony”

“Oh is this a romance I hear?” Shuri pipes up, eager for gossip. Stephen keeps his interest to himself.

Bruce sighs deeply, “Nah Tony isn't interested” It must be defeat, by what he gathered in the lab Bruce has been trying to get Tony interested in somebody, including Stephen himself. 

“Does Stark even have time for that sort of thing?” he questions, peering at the items on sale over Banner's shoulder. 

“Barely. It would do him some good though. Not Steve specifically, just somebody to remind him he’s human” 

Remind him he’s human. That makes Tony less confusing, half of what’s odd about him is not that, he’s a machine. Then again he’s seen him laugh and make jokes, he’s seen him annoyed and defensive, even sad for a short moment. Maybe a machine disguised as a person, or a person forcing their emotions away by functioning at eleven who has to wear a mask of a person that they aren’t to convince people they’re still human. 

It’s more complicated than a lot of what he’s seen so far and that’s saying something. 

Bruce starts talking to a ship keeper about uranium and Stephen's eyes wander until they see Natasha and Barnes sat on a bench across the way. He has his flesh arm draped over the back of the bench and she’s sitting close to him as they discuss something, probably a light topic judging by their smiles. 

It makes Stephen smile too, the crew aren’t just boring useless agents with nothing but the job in mind, it’s real people who earned or deserved the right to be an Avenger, people who love and hate and stand for what they believe is important, people with quirks and traumas that make them interesting. 

When Bruce is done at the shop he takes them down a few steps to what must be a viewing area, with chairs lining the wall and another round table by the glass rail.

“We should get back soon, but I thought you might want to take in the space some more”

“Um, duh” Shuri says, skipping to the rail and leaning almost too far over it to watch water fountains and shuttles. 

“Hey guys!” He and Bruce turn around to see Tony jogging down the steps toward them. “I just scored the cutest jellyfish”

Bruce quirks a brow at him, “You couldn’t get those on Earth?”

As much as Stephen enjoys interesting sea creatures he’s too busy squinting into the distance to contribute. His long range vision has been getting pretty bad lately but there are definitely three dark blobs in the distance getting closer. “Uh, what's that?” he asks Tony and Bruce, pointing up at them. 

The two of them squint too, then Tony taps the side of his headset and a hologram flickers on over his right eye that must help him see further. His reaction isn’t good. 

“...Shit. Shit that’s Hydra”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler: Hydra came to seal Tony's jellyfish


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hydra hit the Citadel and when it's all over Stephen's left wet and ashamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Readers: DID THE JELLYFISH LIVE!?!?!!?  
> Me: You'll find out ;)

It seems Natasha might see him in action sooner than they thought. 

Tony becomes serious and focused in a flick of a switch, “Bruce, Shuri, back to the ship now” 

Bruce goes to grab Shuri and Stephen opens a portal to the CIC, shoving them through before they can ask any questions and sealing it. 

“Operations do you read? Hydra shuttles have breached the Citadel and are headed for Presidium. I want at least two agents in every sector, we don’t know what they’re after”

“Understood Commander” a voice that sounds like Everett replies over comms. 

“Stephen hold this,” Tony hands him his headset and arc pistol.

He dumps both things in his pocket dimension and watches in confusion as Tony unhooks the red and silver case on his back and puts it on the floor at his feet. 

There’s a nook on the case and Tony stomps the toe of his white boot over it like it's a gas pedal. It makes the case change shape, it sections out slightly, then a lot, turning into a floral conglomerate of metal parts he can’t quite make out. That is until two gauntlets with handles on them point up. Tony grabs the handles and plunges his arms into the gauntlet. Then, in a gesture that makes Stephens jaw fall off, he lifts up the case and mounts it on his chest. 

When he stretches out his arms the thing starts to grow from the middle, positioning metal plating down the length of his arms and over his torso. One of those round blue devices is in the centre of his chest and it flares brightly, making a high pitched sound. The armour continues to splay out over his body and around his head, until it’s complete and a silver plate unfolds over his face, clicking into place to form a helmet with glowing white slits for eyes. 

He turns to him, “I’m taking the fight to them, you make sure they don’t set foot on Presidiums tiles”

Tony shoots up into the air, cuts his jet, and rockets again in the direction of the shuttles.

He can save his shock for later, he has work to do. Fridays systems have caught on to the breach and her calm voice advises civilians to evacuate the area and he makes a few copies of himself to ensure that nobody is left behind.

He can see beams shooting out of Tony’s armour, damaging parts of one of the shuttles. Then he’s dodging beams being shot back. 

Stephen hears the sound of something cutting through the air and the glass of the nearest shuttle explodes from the spot where the pilot should be. He turns around and looks up at Barnes who has that long Black Widow sniper perched on the glass railing. 

More pressing matters grab his attention though, because that shuttle is sinking fast toward them. 

The cloak flies him up off the ground and he casts a sigil platform underneath the vehicle. When he spies people trying to crawl out of it he makes a brisk gesture and the sigil folds closed, crushing the shuttle and trapping them. 

One person does get out though, and Stephen barely lets them jump to the floor, barrelling toward them and grabbing them by the middle to toss them in the pretty lake. 

He turns around just in time to see a beam shooting straight at him. It hits him in the shoulder and he goes down, into cold water. 

He scrambles to break the surface but before he can even gasp in air something dark flashes in front of him and he's being dragged back in. There’s an unrelenting pressure on his neck, he’s swallowing water, he can’t even get his bearings let alone break free. 

Then something joins them in the water, and as he drowns Stephens looking at a silver face with glowing eyes. There’s a bright flash and the pressure on his neck suddenly goes away, letting Tony grab him and pull him out of the water.

They fly through the air and land on a smooth white floor. Stephen can’t even stand with how much water he’s coughing out of his lungs.

“Nat! Make sure the rookie’s okay” In a bright burst Tony’s gone again, re-joining the fight.

Stephen turns onto his back and looks up at Natasha as she kneels next to him. 

“Alright?” her eyes keep darting around and she has a gun in each hand. 

“I’m fine, don’t let me keep you” he grunts, propping himself on an elbow to cough out that last bit of water. 

In a quick movement she stands and shoots a few bullets to their left, “Guys are closing in on us right now, if you don’t get up I’m staying to cover you” 

“Like hell I won’t get up” He’s the sorcerer supreme, he wields powers others couldn't dream of, he refuses to rely on bullets and armours to save his ass. 

So he stands up, and despite being soaking wet he’s fired up. He’s no rookie. And he’s going to earn his place as an Avenger. 

He and Natasha stand back to back and he focuses on the men coming his way. He casts disks at his hands and throws them, they slice guns in half and embed into the soldiers, leaving them incapacitated.

“They’re concentrating on Presidium. We have all the crew back on the ship and ST1 in a shuttle, now coming to the Presidium to provide backup” Rhodey says through the earpiece. 

“Hopefully you won't need to” Tony’s voice replies. Stephen looks his way to see him destroy a shuttle engine, unfortunately it crashes into one of the viewing balconies. Just three left.

“Stephen!” Natasha yells. 

He turns around and sees a group of enemies ready to shoot at them. As quickly as he can, he pushes Natasha down to a crouch by her shoulder and casts three layers of sigils that converge to shoot a beam wide enough to take them all down. 

“Actually I could use that backup” Tony’s voice expresses.

They look up at the armour flying around, trying to avoid the simultaneous assault of all three shuttles left.

“I got you” Stephen replies, determined to prove he can turn the tide in a fight, not be a hindrance. 

He casts a portal roughly under the shuttles and a huge tentacle bursts through it. As he commands it, it grabs one of the shuttles and pulls it though, then it shoots up again and grabs the second one, smashing it against the third like they’re toy cars. 

He hadn’t anticipated that the third one would smash right into Tony and launch him through the air until he crashed into an advertisement screen. It flickers to black, black like the smoke billowing out of the hole in it. 

“Shit” He portals across the Presidium and crawls into the hole to find Tony almost through the wall, with a mountain of rubble and wires in his lap. 

“Stark?,” No reply, “Commander!” he shoves all the crap off of Tony’s lap and pulls him out by the arm.

To Stephens glee he groans and manages to find his footing. 

“Is Tony okay?” Rhodes calls through the comms. 

“He’s... fine” Tony replies, slowly straightening. 

“Good news is we don’t sense any infiltrators left, not ones on their feet anyway” Somebody else says. 

Tony gestures to him, “To the shuttle then” 

Stephen nods and flies to the blue aircraft waiting for them by Apollos café. Tony lands in it close after him, clumsily. He rips off his dented helmet and drops it on the floor in a loud metal clang. He’s shining with sweat. 

Critical eyes look around at the group of them and narrow, “Where are Barnes and Nat?”

Stephen looks around at Rhodes, Thor and Maria Hill. They look at each other too. 

“I’m going to get them” 

Before anyone can argue Tony falls backward out of the shuttle and activates his thrusters to fly across the space. 

“You guys get back to the ship, I’ll portal the four of us back” Stephen assures, jumping out of the shuttle and following Tony’s trail. 

When he finds Tony helping Natasha pull Barnes out from underneath the crashed shuttle he notices the back of his armour is shredded, and digging into the flesh of his back. The strain of lifting part of the shuttle to allow Barnes to crawl out only makes blood practically gush out of him and pool onto the floor.

“Hey stop that! You’re going to pass out” Stephen lands and pulls Tony away. Natasha is already helping Barnes to his feet so he doesn't protest. 

Or maybe he doesn't protest because he’s too busy passing out in Stephens arms. 

He’s so heavy with the armour, Stephen only barely keeps from falling over and drapes Tony’s arms over his shoulders so he can open a portal to the Med Bay entrance.

“Go!” He yells to Natasha, who looks rightly confused and worried. She listens to him though, acting as Barnes’ support as he limps into the ship. 

By the time he’s dragged Tony’s unresponsive body through the portal Christine is ready to help get him on a bench.

“What am I looking at?” she asks, snapping her gloves on. 

“He crashed through a wall, his suit is stabbing into his back” They laid him on his front so the messy evidence is well on show. 

“Okay that’s not a first, lift him up a little” 

As ordered, Stephen hooks his hands under Tony’s armpits and lifts him enough so Christine can reach around his chest. She fiddles with something, he doesn't know what, but eventually there’s a click and the back of the suit moves up and away from his body, yanking the bent metal out of him in a way that only seems like it’ll kill him quicker. 

“Damn they don’t usually open from the back” Christine hisses through her teeth. 

Luckily Tony stays out cold as Christine pushes a button that triggers an arm above the bed to scan his torso and report no complex injuries, which is a weird way to describe it. 

She takes a syringe with something clear in it out of a red tin and injects it into a gash. She repeats that a few times, around the cuts that are the largest.

“What is that?”

“Medical gel, it's an anaesthetic, disinfectant and clotting agent. He’ll be completely fine in a few minutes. Will you clean him? I gotta check out grumpy's leg” Christine steps over to the next bench where Barnes is sitting.

Tony’s front is still in the suit so he fumbles to lift him out of it, dragging the thing off the table and resting it on the floor. Being human sized, it’s very much in the way, so he opens his pocket dimension and pushes it through with his leg. 

Stephen tilts Tony sideways so he can unzip his bodysuit. He pauses when he sees the scarring in the centre of his chest. It’s a circular scar with more damaged skin radiating out of it. It’s as if he has his own personal sun in the centre of his chest. Stephen wonders for a moment why it's there. 

But he has a job to do, he shakes it off and laboriously slips his arms out of the suit to push it down to his waist so he can actually work on his back. He snoops around the counters on the other side of the room and spots a small sink with a roll of gauze next to it. He soaks it in water and brings it over to wipe the blood away. It’s a while of repeating the process until his back is clean. Being clean Stephen can see the cuts are already half closed up, he’ll have to investigate that medical gel sometime.

“Chris should I wrap him?”

Christine turns away from Barnes and smiles at him, “Yeah go ahead. He enjoys it, he thinks it makes him look tough” 

Chuckling, he grabs the bandage roll he saw and has the still damp cloak keep Tony a little elevated so he can wrap it around his torso. It takes a while, he has to cover from the end of his shoulder blades to the base of his spine. Not that he minds, it was his fault that he’s passed out on a medical bench, the very least Stephen owes the guy is a little care. 

Tony saved him from drowning and in return Stephen made him bleed.

He doesn’t stay once the bandage is secure around Tony, he’s quick to leave and get to his room where he can be alone. 

As warm water runs down his hair and over his shoulders he laughs deprecatingly at himself knowing that he could have just made those shuttles disappear through some well placed portals but he chose to do something flashy, because he was mad Tony called him a rookie, because he didn’t want to be the weak link. All that stunt proved was that he is. 

When he steps out of the bathroom he sighs and looks up at the window to the universe, “Jarvis… could you tell me when the Commander wakes up?”

“He already has doctor, he is currently on his way to the Operations wing”

Of course he’s gone straight back to work. 

“Oh. Could you… could you tell me when he has a free moment? I have his stuff, and I should apologize”

“I could send a visitation request to the Commander's quarters”

“Yeah alright, do that” 

He puts on a jumper and boxers, to not give Everett a nasty surprise if he comes in, and flops on his bed in hopes he can clear his head. 

That fight was embarrassing, he managed to almost drown and almost kill someone on his side. He could tell himself he wasn't ready, or he was overwhelmed, but they’re empty excuses. He's always supposed to be ready for anything and their enemies were only humans with guns, something that he could fight in his sleep. 

He really thought sorcery fixed everything that was wrong with him, but it didn’t. He’s still ignorant and proud. Maybe it’s in his nature, maybe he was born an asshole and will die as one. 

After what’s probably almost two hours of him failing to clear his head Jarvis fills the room, “Dr Strange, the Commander has accepted your request, please see him in his quarters”

Stephen puts on trousers and doesn't let himself doubt his decision, striding through the corridor with purpose. He needs to apologise, if he runs away from even that he really is weak.

The door opens automatically when he's in front of it. The room’s undercut with soft music. 

Tony walks toward him smiling, with a sports bottle in one hand and a holo pad in the other, as if nothing happened to him. "Hey Doc come in, good work on the Citadel"

Stephen follows him, almost as shocked as he was when he saw a case turn into an armour, "What? You can't be serious"

Tony sits on one of the chairs around the low table, "I was just watching the footage," he taps something and puts his pad on the table. It plays a clip of him shoving Natasha down and firing a beam at a bunch of Hydra. "That's cool" 

Stephen sits on the couch. "Yeah but what I did to you wasn't. I came to apologise"

Tony waves it off, "It happens, one time Rhodey's armour got hacked and he spent like five minutes trying to kill me" he says casually, crossing his socked feet up on the table. 

"No this wasn't that, I… I was so eager to show I was worth my spot I just did that without considering the collateral" he almost laughs at his lap. He's such an idiot. 

"You are worth it. You wouldn't be here otherwise"

Stephen looks up at him, studies his easy expression, "Is that really what you think?"

Tony takes a moment to sigh, "Stephen I didn't call you a rookie because I doubt your skills, you're just new to this, to space, and being in a team" 

"That's very true" he huffs. He really had the gall to think he wouldn't need other people, that he would be the one shining star. He's dull compared to the people around him, the person in front of him. 

Tony smiles, "I was like that too, back in the day"

"It's hard to picture. You risked your life going back for Barnes and Natasha" 

"I… I'm not exactly one to follow rules but one I always stick to is no one gets left behind. I would never leave a fight without somebody, I don't care if it means they have to leave without me" 

"Now that's just hypocritical" 

Tony side eyes him, "Semantics Doctor" 

"But seriously Commander, I'm sorry. And thank you for fishing me out of the water" 

Tony almost jolts in surprise, pulling his legs down and leaning forward, "Oh what's this? You called me Commander? Jarvis call Sam we're having a party!" 

"Calling Sargent Wilson"

Tony waves his arms frantically. "No, don't call him!"

Stephen laughs, for real. And he feels so much better. What he did was wrong but he's not being treated any different for it. 

"Anyway, apology accepted. It gave me an excuse to be bandaged and-"

"You think it makes you look tough? Christine told me when I asked her if I should put it on"

Tony quicks his head, "Oh you did it? Thanks"

"Please never thank me for anything ever again" it's wrong, everything about it is wrong. Tony is probably the last person that would ever owe him a thank you. 

He's fixed with a stern look, "Don't beat yourself up"

"I'll try my best" Stephen smiles politely. He's gotten good at beating himself up ever since he lost the Ancient One.

Tony's quiet for a moment, thinking. "Hey we found Rocket, he's on Illium, it's the financial capital of the Galaxy. We're going to look for him in groups of three and I want you to come with Rhodey and I"

"Are you sure? Rhodes doesn't like me"

Tony chuckles, "He doesn't like anyone until they do something he approves of, it's not personal" 

"Right, does he like flowers?" 

That makes him full on laugh. "Definitely not. Don't worry about it it'll come naturally"

Tony has an oddly amazing laugh, it's appealing and warm in a way that has him hooked to it.

"So when is that happening?"

"We'll dock in an hour"

"Oh wow. Are you sure you're in condition to get back out? Shouldn't you rest and let Rhodes take care of it?" He probably shouldn't be questioning his boss, but he isn't one to be overly influenced by rank.

"The only thing I feel is numb, and a bit buzzed from the painkillers. I am fine, I promise"

"What about your suit?" 

"That was an old model. I can wear my new one" He says, sounding excited about it.

"Did you make it? It's unlike anything I've ever seen before"

Tony puts on a stock cool guy voice, "Yeah, some people call me Iron Man. I'll have to tell you my origin story sometime" 

Stephen bites down on his lip before it can smile. "I'll be eagerly waiting- oh I meant to give you your stuff back"

He opens his pocket dimension and puts Tony's gun and headset on the table, then he faces away from him to drag the suit out and leave it on the floor, admittedly in the way. 

Tony looks impressed, "Well look at you Miss Poppins" 

He rolls his eyes and ends up catching sight of the fish tank, "Hey did your jellyfish make it okay?"

"Yeah! Come look" Tony moves over to his bed and picks up a glass tube filled with water and a few small jellyfish. 

"So are they Earth jellyfish?"

"Yes, but they were raised on the Citadel. The water they're kept in gives them a slightly purple sheen" 

Stephen comes closer to watch them shift from clear to lavender when Tony tilts the tube.

"These poor things are cramped, pull up that chair will you?" Tony walks up to the tank and Stephen rolls over the chair at his desk.

Tube under his arm, Tony positions the chair, steps carefully on it, and grabs a handle above the tank. He twists and pulls out an identical but empty tube, handing it down to Stephen. That done, he replaces the empty slot with the full tube and turns that the opposite way. 

The two of them watch as the jellyfish joint the ecosystem of the tank, floating around at a leisurely pace. 

Tony lowers on the chair but as all chairs with wheels do it wobbles. Stephens there to help, extending his hands to steady Tony by the hips and lending him his shoulders so he can step down safely.

It was all just a natural reaction but when he has Tony standing right in front of him, when he has the presence of his hands on his shoulders, when he's holding onto him, Stephen finds his mind in a place it hasn't been in years.

Tony's so close, he smells like metal and anaesthetic and sweat. 

Stephen thinks about touching a person in a purposeful way.

It only lasts a second, the same time Tony steps away from him he pushes the thought away and out of his mind hopefully forever.

"I need to get ready, you make sure your suit is dry, Illium soon" Tony ushers him to the door and waves him off with a stretched smile. 

The door closes between them and Stephen just blinks at it for a moment. That was strange. In the moment there was something so charged, then the charge exploded for Tony into false emotion and a haste to get rid of him.

It wasn't a wrong reaction really, that was weird and definitely something that should not have happened.

When he gets back to his room his private terminal is blinking, so he sits at his desk and taps the pop up named 'Priority: Rocket' 

It's a file on Rocket, and the first thing that catches his attention is his picture. The picture is of a raccoon.

When Tony called him a trash panda and Everett called him a rat he didn't think that was literal. If the picture isn't an error then he was very wrong. 

The file lists his name as 'Subject: 89P13' then 'Rocket' underneath as an alias. The thing is apparently enhanced by an exoskeleton implant and an advanced cerebral cortex. It's also listed for 59 counts of criminal activity that apparently have been pardoned. 

The file warns he has a tendency to bite. 

Underneath that is a message, outlining that he's been spotted on Illium accompanied by three others, with motives unknown. And that he should be approached without hostility. 

Stephen sighs and goes looking for his suit. It appears to be time to recruit a raccoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like this chapter, Stephen and Tony get a nice moment and it's really Stephens turning point to respecting him and appreciating the team.


	7. Guardians of the Galaxy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Let me ask you this one time, why are you looking for Rocket?” 
> 
> “What’s it to you?” 
> 
> “Tell me what you want from him or I’m gonna paint the town with your friend”
> 
> “Let’s do it! You shoot my guy and I’ll shoot yours” 
> 
> “Do it Quill! I can take it”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun one

Rhodes doesn't have anything to say about Stephen joining them when they split off into groups to search for the raccoon, but he does have a suspicious look to give. 

Stephen doesn’t blame him, Tony could have picked anybody else to be their third. He has a feeling though that he did it to prove that he doesn’t doubt him, but that doesn’t mean he doesnt have an ulterior intention. Like wanting to keep him close because he actually thinks Stephen is useless, which he wouldn't blame him for either. Or because Tony seems invincible and he doesn’t care what Stephen can and can’t do, because he’ll come out on top regardless.

“Tony where’s your suit?” Rhodes asks as they pass stalls docked with those shop consoles they had on Presidium. 

The Colonel’s wearing an armour similar to the one Tony had, only different shades of grey instead of red and silver and with a lot more bulk on it’s upper half. He walks proud in it, with his chin high and eyes sharp. Stephen imagines a lot of people must find him intimidating. 

It’s funny, if he were a stranger looking at them from the outside he would think Rhodes is the one in charge, because next to him Tony walks easily. He definitely carries himself with confidence, but he’s much more approachable looking than his second in command. 

“Right here,” He points at the device hooked on his chest, the triangular one, “It’s the one I’ve been working on”

Rhodes looks at it skeptically, “Didn’t you say it was unfinished?”

“Yeah but that’s just the advanced functions. Plus, this reactor has Element Zero in it, I’m as safe as I can be” he explains, sounding pretty pleased with himself. 

“Speaking of, did you find out why Hydra attacked?” Stephen asks him. 

“We’re assuming they came just to try to take on Tony, they hate us after we tore down their network a few years back” Rhodes explains. 

“Right” If that was their play it wasn’t very smart, afterall Tony wasn’t alone, and their very public arrival gave them time to prepare, even if it was a few seconds. 

Rhodes indicates they take a left and they walk past rows of parked shuttles to speak to a guard. A bright pink woman. He asks her if she’s seen a raccoon and to Stephens surprise she says she did see one walking by a short while ago. 

When they do another round of their sector though they don’t find him. 

“God how hard is it to find this guy, you’d think a raccoon on two legs would be easy to spot” Rhoes groans, squinting. 

“Well raccoons are small. Unless he’s a human sized raccoon, in that case I don’t want to meet him” Stephen says, and he means it. If he sees a human sized racoon he’ll never sleep again. 

“Should we just go to the offices?”

Tony sighs, “Yeah c’mon” 

They go up some stairs and through a circular door into a bridge. It’s empty weirdly, just them and the sound of a news reporter recounting the events on the Citadel. 

Until there’s a roar and something lunges at Tony from behind. They struggle on the floor and Tony manages to scramble to his feet to swing a gun over his shoulder and point it right at the intruder's nose. 

Before Stephen can even react he’s shoved against the wall and a blade presses purposefully against his neck. A blade held by a green hand, attached to a green woman. 

“Let me ask you this one time, why are you looking for Rocket?” somebody says. Stephen peers over the woman's shoulder to see a man holding Rhodes in a headlock, with a gun pressed to his head. He sounds American. 

“What’s it to you?” Tony asks the guy, unhooking his arc pistol and pointing it at him with his other hand. 

“Tell me what you want from him or I’m gonna paint the town with your friend” the man insists. Rhodes looks like he wants to rip his head off with his hands. 

“Let’s do it! You shoot my guy and I’ll shoot yours” Tony looks completely switched on as he smashes the gun into the grey man's face. 

“Do it Quill! I can take it” he says. Stephen doubts that. 

The green woman restraining him frowns, then she turns around and looks at Tony. “Wait… Stark?”

It takes Tony a second, but his face goes from fight to shock as he looks back at her, “Oh my god Gamora?”

Rhodes sputters out a laugh, “That’s Gamora? The chick that-”

“Wow what's goin on here?” they all watch as a raccoon walks in, with a plant pot in one hand and a gun the size of him in the other, “Commander Stark?”

He’s heard enough about Rocket, he’s read his file, but nothing prepares somebody to meet a talking racoon. 

“Rocket” Tony replies, nodding to him. 

Rocket looks around at the very hostile mess he’s walked in on, “Come on guys chill out, Starks cool. Plus, killing a spectre is a war crime ya know” 

Of course Tony’s a spectre. He has ‘hand picked by the council to maintain galactic order’ written all over him. 

Regardless, it works. The woman on him backs off and the American man lets Rhodes go. 

Tony takes his foot off the man under him and puts his guns back on his body. “Sorry Rocket have we met?”

Rocket laughs, slinging his gun on his back too. “Yeah, we were both pretty drunk. We had an enlightening conversation about minimising a mass relay and turning it into an engine, you’re smart even hammered”

Tony smirks, “That sounds crazy, I like it”

“I’m sorry, Gamora how do you know this clown?” The American points at Tony accusingly. 

Tony makes the perfect ‘That’s rich coming from you’ expression. 

She places her green hand on his shoulder, “Peter you don’t want to know”

“Now I definitely do”

Stephen agrees. Now he’s very curious as to what kind of history they have. 

She turns and takes a step toward Tony, “What do you want from Rocket?” she asks, casually not threateningly. 

“His help. No one in the galaxy builds weapons like he does and we need something good to fight the Chitauri”

“You’re kidding. We’re here looking for information on them” Rocket says in his gravelly voice. 

Tony’s brows go up. “Really?”

“I caught wind my father is working with Loki of Asgard and that Loki is working with the Chitauri to stage an attack on Earth” Gamora explains. 

Tony’s face changes to what can only be described as dread. “Thanos is behind this?”

“He’s starting to act” she replies, echoing the same sentiment. 

“Um who’s Thanos?” Stephen asks, clearly he’s something important, and not good.

Rhodey looks at him like he’s a moron, “Seriously? Aren’t you a stone keeper?”

Rocket's furry face looks surprised. “An infinity stone? Gee buddy you need to be caught up” 

“Let’s worry about the Chitauri for now, Earth is in trouble” Peter reminds them.

Tony nods, “True. Rocket, will you join us?”

He looks down at the plant in his hands thoughtfully. It seems to just be a stick. “What kind of weapons are we talking about?”

“Two Thanix cannons, attached to my cruiser”

“Fuck yea I’m in. That sounds like candyland” He exclaims, looking too excited about something as destructive as heavy weapons.

“I’m coming too, I can’t have my father succeeding” Gamora insists, the determination in her stance stating she won’t take no for an answer. 

“Then I’m coming” Peter says, staring daggers at Tony. 

“How about all four of you come? If your ship is small enough you can dock it in our shuttle bay” he offers. 

Rocket gestures for Tony to take the lead. “Show the way Commander” 

It turns out their ship, the Milano, does fit in the shuttle bay. And just like that the Avenger has five new members; a talking racoon, a regular man, a grey and red topless guy, a scary yet attractive green woman and a stick. 

Such an event calls for a meeting, so the operations team meets in operations. And they wait. 

They wait for Bruce, Tony and Rocket as they review blueprints and parts on the projector, speaking gibberish as far as he's concerned.

The environment is clearly stilted. They have unexplained new blood, notably red blood as Quill stands at Gamora's side looking ready to kill anyone that looks at them wrong. It's not anywhere as scary of a look as the one Rhodes is burning into the side of the guys head though.

Caution to the wind, he walks over to Rhodes and Natasha where they sit on some steps and perches below them. 

"Hey what is the deal with the Commander and Gamora?" he whispers. The nearest person to them is Thor but even he’s just about far enough not to overhear if they’re quiet. 

Rhodes gives him a flat look, "He doesn't like to talk about his… exciting past with new faculty. Says it undermines his authority" 

"Yeah well I undermined his authority when I got here and I learned the hard way I was wrong" 

Rhodes seems pleasantly surprised by his words, then approving. Maybe he’s no longer banned from the Colonels fortress. 

Natasha nudges the man, "You have to tell him, it's too good" it must be, because for someone that’s usually composed she looks like she’s barely holding back a grin. 

Then Rhodes becomes the same, melting from calm to holding in laughter, "Alright, let's just say back when Tony was the most eligible of bachelors in outer space he wanted to try everything, and let's just say he tried a variety of women, and men, from many species, and let's just say Gamora was special, because she did something to him that no woman had ever done to him before"

Stephen squints, thinking. It takes him a second but when he narrows it down his mouth drops open. 

He looks over at Tony where he’s leaning his hip against the roundtable as he listens attentively to Rocket, with crossed arms and a crease in his brow. Then he glances over at Gamora, standing with the poise of somebody powerful. Then he imagines what Rhodes is implying. “No”

“Yes” Natasha replies, grinning wide. 

Stephen shakes his head as if it’ll knock the image out but it stays, he’s still picturing Tony on his elbows and knees and Gamora behind him in an image way too unsafe for work. “I’m imagining it and it’s a lot”

Natasha chuckles, patting his shoulder. “Don’t imagine your boss getting ploughed, HR will smell it all over you” 

Stephen frowns at her. “We have HR?”

“Yeah. Me” she winks. 

“Right well it’s your fault” he accuses, trying to rinse his brain. It’s not that the image isn’t an interesting one, Tony and Gamora are both good looking, very much so, but it’s really not the time and not his place. 

Her smile turns sweet, “You’re welcome buddy”

Tony climbs up onto the ring and Stephen freezes like he’s been caught red handed. Luckily he hasn't. “Okay guys sorry for the delay,” once he has everyone's attention he sinks to one knee, “I’m sure you're curious about our new friends here; this is Rocket, that’s Mr Quill, Gamora and Drax ‘the destroyer’” he lists off, pointing at each of them respectively. On the way back to the ship Rhodes asked Drax what he’s the destroyer of. He said anything that dares get in his way. 

“And Groot” Rocket ads, holding up his stick. He’s standing on the ring table too, they wouldn’t see him otherwise. 

“Maybe you’ve heard stories about some of these people but that doesn’t matter, they are here to help us. And I’ve been told they’re the Guardians of the Galaxy, the brave group that saved Xandar from extinction.” Tony continues, “Now, our buddy Rocket has informed me that to create the metal alloy we need for the cannon we have to get a specific sort of oven, one which we can snag from Knowhere, so that’s where we’re headed. ETA three hours. Take it easy until then” 

When he turns around and hops off the counter the team takes that as the end of the meeting, starting to thin as they head to complete their tasks. 

Stephen's task is Gamora, so he hangs back and watches her stroll up to Tony, who seems to be waiting around to field questions. He goes closer to them, but hangs back, seeming like he’s minding his own business when he can just about hear their conversation.

“So, that Quill guy’s your man?” Tony says, glancing in the man's direction. He’s standing in the room's doorway, watching like a hawk. A grumpy baby hawk. 

“That depends on what you mean by it. I feel for him”

“So cute, I knew you had it in you”

She laughs quietly. She’s wildly attractive, it makes complete sense that her and Tony had a moment, or a night. “Oh be quiet. What about you? You seem less... unchained”

Tony flattens his lips into a line and shrugs, “Yeah I’m not that guy you met on Omega. I fell in love”

Gamora's hairless brows raise, “I’m pleasantly surprised. It must have taken a real force to hold you down”

“She was” Tony smiles, but not at Gamora, at something far beyond even the ship.

Air punches out of Stephen. There’s no doubt about it now, he knows Tony lost someone that clearly meant the world to him, someone he was in love with. 

The moment of transparency in Tony’s expression is gone quickly, replaced by that winning smile he sports so often, “Should I give you that tour then?”

As they start to turn to the door Stephen steps up to them, “Excuse me, Gamora after the tour could I speak to you about something?”

She offers a flat lipped smile, “My father I assume?”

Stephen nods. Clearly Thanos is a big threat, so he has to know about him, it’s his job to. “I have a stone to protect. It’d be much appreciated” 

When Gamora nods Tony addresses him, “I’ll find out where you are when we’re done and bring her to you yeah?” 

He nods once to him, “Thanks Commander”

The guardians follow Tony out and Stephen makes his way over to the labs. The last time he was there was only about nine hours ago but it feels like days, they’ve been through so much. 

There’s nobody he knows in the Armory, just a man and woman sitting at a workbench in light gray boiler suits going through hologram constructions of weapons. He pulls out his assigned project from the wall and places it on the same station he was using earlier.

“Jarvis where would I find Thor?” He asks. He’s getting more used to talking to something that’s not physically present. For the first time he didn’t look up when addressing the AI.

“In transit”

“Could you ask him to see me in the Armory when he can? I need a consultation”

“He says he will be with you in a few minutes” 

Stephen nods and crouches to the tables level to squint at the blade as if that’ll reveal some big secret. It would help to take it out of the casing, but he doesn’t want blood in his mustache when they next dock.

Soon Thor arrives, strolling into the Armory looking very Asgardian with his hammer, red cape, armour, and huge muscles. The two scientists in the room gawk. 

“Sorcerer. How can I assist?”

“Could you look at this? It’s an Asgardian weapon, we think” he gestures at the case on the table. 

Thor walks up to it and kneels to its level, “Oh it definitely is, the pattern on the hilt is unmistakably of our influence” 

“Is there anything at all you could tell me about it?”

“Well I haven't seen it before,” he stands and circles the table until he’s on the opposite side, then he decides to pick up the glass case and fiddle with it, “If I just open…”

“Thor I’m told you shou-”

The top panel slides off and Thor carelessly puts it to the side. “There it is,” he grabs the sword and turns it in his hold, “This weapon is hefty!” He exclaims, excitedly swinging it like it’s a plaything. 

It makes Stephen nervous. The sword is as long as one of his legs and it looks devastatingly sharp. 

Suddenly Thor stops, and Stephen’s not sure why until blood runs out of one of the gods' nostrils. 

“Jesus Thor, give me that” he snatches the blade from the man's grasp and summons a tissue to hand to him.

Thor dabs the tissue on his lip and seems shocked to see the blood on it. Stephen’s pretty shocked too, that a god's blood runs crimson just like a humans. 

“I tried to tell you, the blade seems not to like people”

“I’m surprised, I am not merely a person” he says, wiping the rest of the blood, 

“Yeah it’s strange… and it’s Asgardian, how could it reject you?” he scratches his beard as he thinks. Maybe it’s meant for a specific species, he could get Gamora and Drax to try it out. 

Thor thinks too. He looks at his hammer where he left it on a nearby stool, then at Stephen. “Maybe I am not worthy” he’s smiling for some reason. 

“What?”

“You’re still holding it” 

“Ah shit” he drops the scalpel on the table like it’s on fire. 

“I think this sword and yourself were meant to cross paths”

Stephen raises a skeptical brow at the guy. “Like I’m the chosen one?”

“You haven’t started bleeding” he observes. 

Stephen brings his fingers to his nose and finds that yes, he isn’t bleeding. And he held the weapon for just as long as Thor did.

“Interesting theory” He reaches for the sword and picks it up purposefully, holding it up to the light and waiting for something to happen. It still reflects everything but him. 

“Do you not find it heavy?”

“Nah it’s pretty light” he observes, slashing it lazily from side to side. He’s never used a physical sword so he isn’t going to commit to any brash movements. 

“Then you are certainly the chosen one” 

He stops to think. “Isn't that just too coincidental?” What are the chances that Tony and co. would find the sword, bring it with them, then recruit the man who was chosen to wield it. It’s too fictitious.

“Things happen for a reason doctor. Do you know how to use a sword?”

He lowers the sword until the point is dancing with the floor. “Can you tell I don’t?”

Thor nods. “Very much. Let’s practice”

“Right now?”

“Yes. This is an armory is it not? There must be another sword to be found” 

As it turns out there is, some snooping results in Thor pulling a compartment out of the wall and finding swords hung in it. He selects a simple looking one with a weathered iron blade and a gold hilt. It’s a little shorter than the scalpel but looks twice as heavy. 

Thor plants himself opposite him, about three feet away. They have a good amount of space around them to move about. “Let us start with lines of attack and defense. Think of it as a star. When I attack vertically, from the top down, you must defend holding the sword up horizontally” he demonstrates a vertical swing, then a horizontal block.

They spend about half an hour going through possible angles of attack and options for defence. Thor demonstrates, they practice it slowly, switching roles, then with a little more purpose. He learns a fair amount, like watching his wrist, when to turn the blade outward or inward, how to misdirect by appearing he’ll attack from one direction but switching for a dodge or a kick when the opponent is busy blocking where they think the sword will be. 

It’s actually good fun, and Thor seems to get into it too. He’s laughing at Stephen as they play a blocking exercise consisting of him sending his hammer flying toward him at a relatively harmless speed that he must stop with the sword. He just missed one and it hit him in the hip. 

“You make me weep” Thor exclaims dramatically. Then the hammer zooms back toward him, but at a steep angle. He plans to show Thor up so he’s sure to reach it, swinging the scalpel up quickly to catch it. 

He wasn’t expecting to accidentally tear a hole reality doing so.

“Shit” 

It seems to be a portal, to the research lab. It’s not like his usual round sparking ones, it really looks like a big rip, with a pale yellow glowing edge. 

They’re lucky he didn’t open it to the outside of the ship. They’d be dead, or at least he would be. 

“Well now we have learned why the sword is special” 

Stephens panicking, just a little. He tries cutting the rip with the sword and when that actually closes the portal he almost sings. 

“I am not ready for this thing” he lowers the sword to his side and is scared to even move it. 

“What are you doing?”

They turn to the voice to see Tony and Gamora walking in. Again Stephen feels like he’s just been caught red handed. 

“Hello Commander Stark” Thor says, smiling like nothing at all is wrong. 

“Putting this thing away” Stephen replies, carefully putting the scalpel back in the glass case and sealing it. 

“As you should, evidently you’re untrained” Gamora says. He’s surprised she could tell just by the way he held it. 

“Catastrophically so” he admits as he carries the thing back to slot into the wall. 

“I don’t know if that’s the right word, you’re not bleeding” Tony observes. 

“Thor thinks I’m ‘the chosen one’” 

After a moment Tony groans, “I swear to god, everyone I hire on the operations team turns out to be way more remarkable than promised” 

“Odd complaint” 

“I know. Anyway, Gamora is all yours” Tony presents her to him in a wide gesture and bows out of the room gracefully. 

“Should we find somewhere better to sit?”

Stephen takes Gamora to the Mess Hall, hoping it isn’t meal hour yet. He’s frankly lost all concept of the solar cycle, probably because they’re in a different one every few hours. 

To his luck it is pretty quiet, and they manage to sit at a table where nobody is close enough to overhear.

She doesn't waste even a second on pleasantries, “Thanos likes to call himself a visionary, or a futurist. Where he is from the people were dying, starving because there were too many of them and not enough resources. He had warned them of that but they cast him away, called him crazy. Then his world fell. Ever since then he’s been obsessed with gaining balance in the universe. He went from planet to planet killing half the population of every one of them. He killed my parents, half my people in front of me and told me it was as it should be, to maintain balance.”

Stephens lost for words and breath. He's not sure what he expected. Not this. 

“Of course the universe is a big place," Gamora continues, very casually for someone remembering the murder of their people, "too large for one titan to cover, so Thanos altered his plan. He decided he will collect all six singularities, or infinity stones, in order to wipe out half the universe”

“Because all six together grant unlimited power” he supplies, more to himself.

“Exactly”

He can practically hear his brain as it ticks the information, “But how could he wield him all?” he knows even one of the stones could kill to the touch. 

“He is the most powerful being in the known universe, and he has a gauntlet that will allow him to wear them all one one hand. With a snap of his fingers he can make half the universe disappear. That is his life's goal” she explains, holding up that hand and snapping her fingers.

That snap is like a trigger, it makes the gravity of the situation click in his head. 

“Then why are we fighting Loki? Clearly he’s the threat of all threats” He's restless. He shouldn't be sitting around, he should be looking for Thanos. 

“Thanos will crush your head in his hand. We fight him by blocking his access to the stones. That means you are on the front lines” 

He is. “I’m never going to sleep again” 

Gamora smiles sympathetically, “I hardly do” 

He can't imagine the nightmare it must be to live with something like that as a father. Stephen would die of disgust. 

Gamora leans closer to him, “Doctor let me give you some advice, do not live in wait for the day Thanos may fulfill his goal”

“How can I not?”

“If you do you’ll die regretting the things in life you missed”

“But I’m a stone keeper. It’s my dut-”

“As it is my duty to stop my father. But I let myself find friends, and grow fond of a man, and I’m happier for it”

“You’re right” he knows really that he hasn't lived life for him in a long time. And it'll catch up to him. Hell, when the tour is over and he goes back to the sanctum, to a stoic librarian and his sentient cloak he's probably going to feel it. 

“But I’m always ready to fight” she adds. 

“Good philosophy”

“In fact you are in dire need of sword dueling lessons. I am an expert, I could help”

“That sword is… not just a sword, it’s not safe to play with” for all he knows the sword rips dimensions instead of portals, that could be an even bigger problem. 

“Then use a similar one. I was shown a gym on this ship, we should certainly spar”

It's kind of amusing that two women have already asked him to spar. And he thought he was past his prime. 

“Alright. Thanks for bringing me up to speed, I imagine it can’t be an easy topic”

“It’s important that you know. And remember, be cautious but not afraid” 

Her sentence ends with the sound of a muffled explosion. 

It came from the mystery door down the bride to his left. After that beeping starts, like a smoke alarm, again muffled. Everyone in the Mess Hall stops what they're doing to look at the closed door, waiting for something to happen.

And something does; the door opens and heavy smoke billows out of it, triggering another alarm in the hall. It’s then that Stephen figures he should be panicking, that the ship is going to explode and leave them all floating in the vacuum of space forever. 

A small silhouette appears within the smoke and turns into Rocket. He’s running on all fours like a racoon should. He stops mid way down the bridge to turn back and watch the door, as if something of nightmares is about to crawl out of the thinning smoke. 

Something does come out, or someone. They stumble and cough and look like that guy he’s seen around, Engineer Lang if he remembers correctly. Lang who's in a light t-shirt ruined by a dusting of grey ash. It’s all over his front, the only place spared being his eyes. 

Rocket doesn't react to the guy. He does however take a step back when another figure starts emerging. It’s bulkier than Lang and the silhouette of it in the smoke is one of a man on a mission, not reduced to coughing.

Two steps out of the fog reveals a familiar face, the Commander's face. It’s half covered in ash and angrier than he’s ever seen it. Tony looks like he’s ready to paint the cruiser red. 

He takes controlled steps down the length of the bridge, each matched by a retreat from Rocket. Eventually he runs out of the bridge though, and stumbles down the steps into the Mess Hall. 

Tony stops at the edge of the bridge and he looms over Rocket, in a way Stephen didn’t imagine he had in him. He’s always been the picture of ease and flippancy, seeing his jaw tighten and eyes go dark is something completely new and unexpected. 

“Rocket you.. You brought an explosive onto my ship” he says, in a dangerously controlled way, like he can barely bite back a yell. 

“A small one! It was a little baby” Rocket explains, practically praying up at Tony.

“You brought an explosive down into the battery. I don’t care if it’s the size of my tooth, you set off a bomb in my ship!” Tony grits out, voice rising with every word.

Stephen’s horrified that he finds the new side of Tony hot. He’s Sorcerer Supreme, he should not find anything ‘hot’. But there he sits, watching Tony stand there wearing a half dirty tight white tank top, with his bodysuit zipped down to his belt, tense muscled arms on show and pure murder in his face and finding it very hot. 

Tony jumps down the three steps between him and Rocket and the animal darts away. He’s too slow though, Tony lunges and catches his tail, yanking him back and pinning him to the floor with his hands around his neck. 

“I’m too young to die!” Rocket flails, scratching at Tony’s forearms. 

“Well too bad because after I kill you I’m going to kill you again you asshole!” he yells back, really choking Rocket with conviction, to the point Lang has to try to pull him away.

Stephen figures they should help too, but Gamora seems to have no intention of moving, more of grabbing some popcorn by the look on her face. “Wow Peter wasn’t nearly as angry as him when Rocket did it to his ship”

“Does he bring bombs onto spacecrafts for kicks?”

“If kicks means to amuse himself, then I think so” 

Stephen sees what Gamora meant, as he watches Rocket run to hide under her chair and Tony almost clock Lang in the face so he can continue on his murder quest he understands the value of friends. Sure, Thanos is out there, and certainly one day he’s sure they’ll have to face each other, but until then he’ll enjoy the joy and chaos of simply being human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If u don't know about Gamora pegging Tony in the comics I truly feel bad for u. It's beautiful.


	8. Middle of Knowhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Am I to expect episode two of Stephen apologizing to his Commander?" 
> 
> "Yes"
> 
> "How many seasons?"
> 
> "Too many, enough that the show will pass it's peak"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is wild bro

Tony huffs at a digital sign with pink letters on it that look like a mashup of arabic and russian. “Says they’re closed”

The streets of Knowhere aren't anything like the Citadel balconies or the Illium halls, they’re dirt and chaos. On their way to the shop they needed they passed children running barefoot, strange creatures selling even stranger trinkets at prices that Natasha called shameless robbery, and big brutes who just yelled at people as they bumped into them in the packed walkway. 

“Sweet. What do we do?” Rhodes asks. 

Tony turns to them with a smile on his lips and an idea behind his eyes. “Kill two hours. Who wants a drink?”

And that’s how they end up at a place called Afterlife.

Stephen’s confused, because the streets are busy like its peak time, but the store is closed, yet what’s clearly a nightclub is in full swing. It’s like the planet just doesn't care about time or order. Especially order. 

The club has a transition room, where people drunk out of their minds can sit on the floor and hope to live another day or do drugs away from the thumping music, if two aliens sniffing a block of something dark green is doing drugs. 

By the door are three men with three rows of eyes and two of nostrils, with patterned skin that reminds him of tigers. One of them, seemingly the leader, steps in Tony's way when he tries to advance through the door. 

“This doesn't look like it’s your territory, human” 

Stephen would expect Tony to crack a passive aggressive joke and walk right around him, but he still hasn’t recovered from Rocket almost blowing up his battery. “Too bad I’m already in it” he tells the alien, staring him down with a dark look that says ‘I dare you’. 

Seeing it raises Stephen's temperature. He’s still trying to crack what draws him to an angry Tony so much, maybe that when he is he can’t be dismissed as just a man, or king of clowns. The expression he has on his face describes what he really is, powerful, a Commander. 

The alien raises his pistol and tips it from side to side, inspecting it casually all while having it pointed at Tony’s chest. “That’s alright, I could show you out”

“Oh nice gun, do you like mine?” Tony steps back and swings a gun twice the size off his back to press firmly on the man's wrinkled forehead, nothing casual about it.

The alien seems stunned, then he backs away slowly, grumbling something about them watching their back as he and his lackeys retreat. 

The five of them stand in silence for a beat, before Natasha breaks it by clapping her hands together, “Okay! Tony I’m buying you a drink” 

As much as he enjoyed what he just saw he agrees Tony is definitely too strung up. So when Nat leads the way into the club he follows, they all do.

It’s what you’d expect from a club, booming music you can feel rattling within your ribcage and pink and purple lights flashing around to reveal groups of people dancing the night, or day away. 

As they snake through crowds Stephen notes the range of different species and their garments and starts to understand why Knowhere seems so unscheduled. It’s a place for travellers just like them, from all lands, with all different body clocks. 

They get to a bar eventually, a ring shaped one with bartenders of many shapes and colours serving yelled out orders. Natasha asks for some drink for each of them, and Tony specifies to the guy that he’ll go non alcoholic, which seems to defeat her purpose. 

The guy that took the order comes back quickly with four shots of something very pink. They got served a lot quicker than the group next to them, maybe because they look more expensive, with their clean uniforms and fancy weapons.

A creature with six eyes, the same species as the man outside, gives Tony a red drink and he takes the lead in raising their glasses. He seems more relaxed, with a smile as they all cheer. 

Stephen only tastes a little of his, he’s too suspicious to back it all. It’s sweet, sour, and alcoholic. Bucky slides his glass over to Natasha. Natasha slides it to Thor. 

Tony leads them down some stairs and into a room with curved black couches and low round tables. People sit there and talk, few, not many. The music is much less deafening. 

“You must all try Asgardian liquors” Thor insists as they populate a couch by the door. 

“I would rather not pass out for three days thanks” Tony says. 

“I think a glass of wine would do that to you at this point” Rhodey mumbles.

Tony bumps his friends shoulder in retaliation, “It’s only been three years, and challenge not accepted thank you” 

“You don’t drink?” Stephen asks.

“No it… I had a problem”

Stephen nods, quietly impressed. It isn't easy to go sober and stay that way. 

“You know Tony you’ve always been a great man but now you’re a good man and I am proud” Natasha declares, gripping his knee. 

Stephen never knew Tony before, he only has for about two weeks, but he sees a truth in her words. Tony is great, he's a genius and a fighter and a leader. He's also good; kind, understanding and thoughtful. 

“And you Nat may have been a triple imposter but now I trust you till the end” he responds, placing his hand on top of hers and smiling back, making the corners of his eyes crinkle a little.

“If we’re at it, Strange you used to be an asshole and now you’re cool” Rhodes says. 

Stephens lost for words, he just opens his mouth and closes it right back.

Tony frowns. “When was he an asshole?”

He appreciates that Tony didn't see it in him, maybe all the admittedly rude remarks when they met were just banter in the man's eyes. 

“When he was all like ‘I’m too good to work here’” Rhodes makes an exaggerated pompous look when he says that and Stephen really hopes he doesn't look like that, ever. 

Tony thinks for a moment, then nods. “True you did look down your nose at me when we met”

Stephen raises a brow at Tony, “Should I be looking up at you?”

Rhodey's hands fly up like he's about to defend himself from attack, “Oh no please, save that for the bedroom, jesus christ”

Stephen’s confused for a whole second, but then he realises how that might be taken and flushes. 

“When two goatees collide sparks fly” Natasha says, sighing wistfully. 

“More like carpet burn” Bucky mutters.

The couch bursts with laughter from the two remarks, except he and Tony. Although while Tony shakes his head and smiles Stephen just wants to get up and walk out and never return. It's puzzling that Tony's being such a sport, how could he not be embarrassed when they're talking about him and Stephen and Stephen is sitting right across from him. 

Is it possible it's because he's open to the prospect? 

Stephen sets that thought on fire. “You people are…”

“Not good enough for you, Tinkerbell?” Rhodes finishes for him. 

“Something very special. That’s it. Rhodes you’re scary as shit, but also very special” if Wong could see him now he would die laughing.

“The first part was the compliment”

Thor pipes up next, turning to the man on his left, “Barnes you are a force to be contested, but also a kind man”

“Thanks Thor, you seemed like a brute with no brains but you’re actually very smart” he replies with a placid smile. Stephen knows him least of everyone on ST1 but he does really seem nice.

“Thor yours was a double compliment” Tony observes.

“I wish only to spread joy”

Tony lifts his index, about to make a point, but his mouth hangs ajar for a little too long before he starts speaking, as if his brain glitched for a moment. “That’s a l…"

Tony frowns at himself, clears his throat, and tries again, "that's a-”

When his shoulders start to droop forward Rhodey grabs one, keeping him straight. “Tony?”

Tony's head picks itself up and his brown eyes look straight at Stephen opposite him. They look glazed. 

He falls limp and Rhodey catches him a second before his head smacks the table. 

Everyone stands up. Rhodes pushes Tony into sitting up and presses his fingers under his jaw. He nods, satisfied, thank god.

"Is everything okay there?" A voice says in his ear, Everett.

"The Commander just passed out" Natasha replies, "Did anyone have eyes on his drink?"

"No one touched it before him" Barnes says, he looks sure. 

Rhodes activates his omnitool and holds it over the glowing source on Tony's chest. It beeps and shows a report. "Fuck" 

Stephen doesn't like that fuck, especially when Rhodes switches into lightning gear, diving into one of the pouches on Tony's belt and taking out a little tube of something clear. He taps the top and a needle retracts out of it, then he slows just for a moment, to make sure he's found the right spot, and injects the solution into Tony's neck. 

"Rhodes" Stephen says, barely hearing it over how fast his heart is clapping in his chest. 

"He's going to be fine. The shit in him is lethal gone untreated, but this'll counteract it" he explains as he lays Tony down. 

"Are you certain?" Stephen asks, holding Tony's wrist where it hangs off the couch to ensure his pulse is there. It's slower than it should be but it's there. 

"Yeah, this isn't the first time" Rhodes sighs, standing straight. 

That's horrible. 

"We still do not know how this happened" Thor reminds them. 

Natasha tips her head in thought, "Technically, someone did touch his drink"

The bartender. 

Bucky seems to come to the same answer, because his jaw sets and he starts walking to the door, "I'll take care of it"

Thor follows Barnes out. Stephen doesn't want to leave Tony, but he also doesn't want his team mates to get into a bad situation, so he watches from the door. 

Bucky practically throws people out of the way and waves his metal hand in the bartenders face to catch his attention. Stephen squints to see them exchange a few words. 

He also sees the woman next to Bucky unclasp her gun. 

His throat closes in fear and he's halfway to the bar when she lifts the gun and shoots the bartender in the chest. 

Everybody in the surrounding vicinity stops, as if time itself has. 

He watches Thor and Bucky blink at the woman in bewilderment. She simply puts her gun back on her hip, clasps both their wrists in an Asgardian greeting, and waltzes off with a tall drink in hand. 

"Did she just kill that guy?" Stephen asks them when they return. 

Bucky looks like he just stepped off a rollercoaster. "Yeah. He had it coming though" he decides, dismissing the whole thing in a shrug.

Rhodes frowns at them. "Who killed who?" 

"A woman, called Valkyrie. She killed the bartender when he confessed to drugging the Commander" Thor explains. 

"Oh yea her, she and Tony were pretty much drinking pairs, like ice skaters or tennis players. Them two together could drink Satan under the table" 

"The Galaxy is a small place or he is far too popular" Stephen says, looking at an unaware Tony limp on the couch. Even like this he doesn't look vulnerable. 

"The latter"

Tony's out for an hour, an hour they wait out in the back room of a shit club. 

Stephen asked a few times if he should be moved to a medical facility but Rhodes insisted there was nothing more to be done and that Tony would be furious to be taken out of the mission.

"Are you implying that when he wakes up we're just gonna continue on with the plan?"

"Course. This is space Stephen, and in space one does not sit if they can walk" Rhodes explains, ironically from where he sits on the couch, "Plus, it's just buying something, not like we're gonna get into a fight" 

"Don't jinx it" Bucky warns.

Stephen agrees, they didn't expect a fight on the Citadel or the one that almost happened with the guardian's. 

"Trust me to get shot at as a job but be caught out by a roofie" Tony groans out, lifting his hand to card it through his hair.

The tension in the room instantly softens. 

"How you feeling?" Natasha sits on the table facing him. 

"Well rested. I'm gonna have words with that bartender" he throws a weak punch into the air to demonstrate. 

"Your friend Valkyrie killed him, so it'll be a lot like talking to a wall."

Tony laboriously sits up, looking around with squinted eyes, "Vals here?" 

"I think she left" Barnes says.

"Smart. Should we head to the Smith then? Should be open now" he checks his omnitool and nods. 

"You don't need a minute?" Rhodes asks, despite saying the opposite a minute ago. Stephen can tell he really cares for Tony.

"I've had plenty" he goes to stand up and Thor helps, pulling him up by the forearm like he's nothing. 

They leave Afterlife, and Tony seems fine, walking strong and steady. 

When they get to the shop Rocket indicates it is open, and within is a small space with a desk and weathered blueprints stuck to the wall. 

The man standing by the desk is hefty, in a way you'd expect a half man half pig to be. It makes him wonder if pigs are actually from a different planet or if it's just a genetic coincidence. 

"Hello sir we're looking for this furnace," Tony tells him, pulling up the blueprint on his omnitool and showing it to the angry looking creature. 

The man informs him he can put an order in and have it in two weeks. Tony asks if they have any in store, to which the man nods but says it's already bought. Tony asks to see it, for quality assurance, and they're taken through a door into a vast room with dim light and rows of different furnaces. It's unbearably hot and he can hear metal clanking consistently around them. 

They're shown to the product in question, it's big, reaching Stephen's hip.

Tony excuses himself to come back to the group, "Rocket come in"

"Sir"

"We have an issue, the furnace is already sold to somebody else and he refused when I made a better offer" he murmurs, glancing behind him at the huffing creature. 

Rocket giggles, "Steal it"

"Are you- never mind you are crazy. This thing weighs more than Thor, we can't just drag it out of the shop and skip back to Avenger" Tony hisses back. 

"There is always a way to steal something"

It all occurs to Stephen pretty quickly, "I have a plan" 

"Okay" Tony gives him his attention and the rest of the group follows. 

"Someone distract him, make sure he's looking away, then I'll make a portal to… engineering? And Thor and Barnes can shove the furnace through it" 

Rhodes nods, "Sounds good, I'll distract" 

"Can we jump in after the furnace?" Natasha asks. 

"Yeah, good?" 

The group nods and Rhodes goes off to talk to the man about reconsidering. He's sure to walk him away from the furnace as they talk.

Sling ring on, Stephen opens a portal to the engineering corridor and Thor and Bucky press their backs to the furnace, then together they push.

It slides in, but they hadn't accounted how shatteringly loud it would be as it scraped the floor. 

The pigman turns around and sees them, Stephen, Tony and Nat join the two guys to get it all the way through before they jump onto ship ground.

Rhodes is running to them, pigman hot on his tail. He lunges through and Stephen snips the portal closed. 

He didn't mean to catch pigmans hoof in it. The chunky foot rests on the metal floor, the point at which it was cut burns embers. 

Rhodes makes a face at the dismembered foot as he stands. "Gross"

Bucky instead looks impressed, "That's a pretty useful skill there" 

"Oops?" He offers. If the man had just let them steal his furnace he wouldn't be crying over his missing foot, he still feels awful though. 

Rocket walks out of the elevator and grins at what he sees, "Hey you did it!" He walks around the furnace and nods to himself. It's a relief to see, Stephen would die if it was the wrong one.

"Now I need his arm" he says, pointing his little finger at Bucky. 

"What?" He looks down at his shiny hand, puzzled. 

"To put in the furnace, it's the secret ingredient" it doesn't help that he's trying not to laugh. 

"You want some arm?" Tony sweeps him up in a headlock and Rocket squeals as the air is choked out of him. 

Again the two have to be broken up, and like nothing happened they launch into planning and building intricacies. 

An Op meeting is called and the group follows as Tony and Rocket continue to fire plans and information back and forth like two brains on the same wavelength.

The plan is to return to the Citadel, where Tony explains they'll have the docking bay and on site engineers assist them in building the cannons. He estimates they'll be docked between one and two weeks.

Stephen’s unsettled by such a long period of doing nothing to stop the Chitauri but Thor is plain upset, wanting to find his brother and stop his mad quest once and for all. 

In the end though the group accepts it. Stephen really is just happy he can finally sleep. 

-

When it's time to wake up they're already docked at the Citadel.

At breakfast nobody who has any kind of engineering background is around. Shuri, Bruce, Tony, Lang, they're all probably yelling at Citadel engineers and melting alloys. 

He's happy to sit with Everett and the Guardians though. They have a lot of insane stories about their adventures. 

When they're done Gamora invites him to that sword lesson, and they go on to spend hours in the gym covering the basics and building up. 

Stephen isn't the most athletic, all he did back in New York was jog, so when Gamora tells him to keep going every time he stops to brace his hands on his knees he wants to just sit down and never get up. 

Gamora sees this weakness in him and that's how the nightmare starts. 

Three days pass and she makes them spar every one of them, for at least 3 hours, adding physical combat too. 

She also makes him jog around Presidium every day before breakfast. Tony joins them on day two and three, and together he and Gamora tease Stephen as he struggles to simply stay alive. 

He knows he could say no, Gamora doesn't scare him, but he knows she's doing him a favour. Surrounded by Shield agents Stephen is sub par physically, it makes him a weak link. 

"Everett just throw me out the airlock" he groans, face buried in his pillow. He can't feel any part of him.

"Awe is it gym time?" 

"I don't know if I can even walk" He would love to be back at the sanctum sitting in a comfortable chair and drinking tea.

"I hear Gamora has that effect on people" 

Stephen looks up from the pillow, "You know about that?" 

Everett turns away from his private terminal to look at him, "Course, It's some of the best Avenger gossip"

"What else is good Avenger gossip?"

"Um we talk about Steve's crush on the Commander, that's pretty funny"

"Funny?" He kind of finds it sad. 

"Yeah, it goes completely over Stark's head and it's hilarious. This one time after a meeting Steve asked him if he wanted to get coffee and he said 'black, thanks'" 

"Ouch" 

"In his defence Tony was really stressed, I don't think he even realised who he was talking to"

"Let me guess, Steve got him the coffee?" 

"Of course. It wasn't all bad though, Tony invited him to join our post-meeting meeting, although it was about an operative on another planet so the guy had no idea what we were on about" 

"Any other stuff?" Gossip is pretty new to him, there was none in the Masters and at Metro he only cared about gossip concerning him, not others. 

"There's the Hope and Scott will they won't they. Hope is too focused on her job to let poor Lang in"

"Dr Strange, Gamora impatiently awaits your presence" Jarvis informs him. 

"Ugh. Alright" He rolls out of bed and gets his shoes on, somehow not falling over.

"If you hate it so much why don't you stop?"

"Because, peer pressure. All you shield agents could lift cows"

Everett laughs. "You spend too much time with the strike team, that's your problem" 

When he walks into the gym he finds Everett is exactly right. What he's seeing is just ridiculous; Bucky’s sitting on a bench lifting a huge weight with his flesh arm as he chats to Natasha, who is sat cross legged on Tony's back as he does push ups. 

"I was starting to think you were not going to show yourself" Gamora says, smirking like the evil woman she is. 

"If this keeps up I won't be able to"

She looks back at Tony and Natasha, "I like that, It looks fun"

"No Gamora we are not doing it. I can't do push ups any way, bad hands"

"Do the plank instead" Tony grits out. Stephen wants to strangle him. 

Gamora orders him to do the plank, without her on him thank god, so he gets down next to Tony and braces himself on his forearms.

It's a good thing no one is talking to him, because he's very distracted. 

Tony grunts every time he goes to raise his body, it's internal but being close Stephen can hear it, and almost feel it rumbling through him. He's sweating just enough that it gives his tan skin a natural glow and draws attention to his arms as the muscle stretches and contracts. He can smell him too, he smells like metal.

Stephen’s accepted he obviously has a little crush on Tony, denying it to himself would be foolish. It's also foolish though that he has the crush in the first place, he's kind of embarrassed of himself. He's supposed to be more professional than this, yet he's into his Commander. He sighs out his exertion, he better not become the next Steve Rogers everyone on the ship gossips about. 

Thankfully Gamora doesn't sit on him, but he's still taken to the mat and thrown a sword. 

The sword training is his favourite part of Gamora's slow murder, because it's a much more intuitive process than he thought. There's so much theory, law and technique to it, it's like learning a new science. 

She's teaching him parries one minute, and the next she starts a full assault on him.

He staggers back, blocks an overhead swing, dodges a jab and intercepts a side swing. Gamora breaks through it though, and her sword slices him before he can fully dodge. 

A long cut in his left bicep shows up red with blood. 

"What… what did you just do?" He looks up at her. The cut is shallow but it still stings. 

"A surprise test. You were okay but an enemy would have left your arm on the floor" she explains, pointing her sword to the ground. 

He can't believe what he's hearing, "Are you serious? If I hadn't stepped away I'd be bleeding to death" 

"You can't be unprepared out here"

"I'm not! I am the Sorcerer Supreme I'm very prepared" he could take down every one in the room if he wanted.

"Gamora's just trying to help, a cut in practice might save your life in a fight" Tony says, approaching the mat. 

"No you know what Commander? You're batshit, and you're batshit Gamora. You people are so hard-core. Jesus" He huffs and walks out. He doesn't storm, he's been humiliated enough as it is, he just walks, and keeps walking until he's in the Med Bay. 

"I thought she was going to kill you from exhaustion, not this" Christine muses as she dabs gel on his clean cut.

"Likewise"

"You don't seem that upset"

"Nah I realise they are right, and clearly I'm not invisible. I need to be better"

She hums in a agreement, "There's always room for improvement"

"I called Stark batshit. Is that crossing a line?"

She laughs, "I don't know. I mean the guy is crazy, and he probably knows it, so I doubt he'll hold it against you" 

He apologizes to Gamora at dinner, she apologizes back. After some talking he understood that she grew up surrounded by violence, so she didn't find it strange to introduce in a friendly situation. And he explained to her that humans are weak and value safety. 

He doesn't see Tony at dinner, so he ends up stopping at his quarter door on his way to his own. He flexes sore fingers as he considers if he should knock or something. Tony's probably working, he shouldn't disturb him just to apologize about something that's not even a big deal.

But he respects Tony, so he cares about what he thinks of him. He needs to clear the air in case the man feels as if his authority was undermined.

Before he can think more the door just opens.

He steps in cautiously and finds no one in the room.

"Bathroom" a voice calls, and he whips around to the sound of it. 

The almost hidden door slides open and Stephens peeking into a bathroom identical to his one, as it seems he didn't give himself an upgrade on that front. 

He looks at Tony leaning into a mirror, with a straight razor at his jaw as he neatens his beard. He's only wearing a tank top and boxers, Stephen snaps his eyes back up before he can get any bright ideas. 

"Am I to expect episode two of Stephen apologizing to his Commander?" 

He cringes internally, because he likes the sound of 'his Commander'. "Yes"

Tony smirks into the mirror. "How many seasons?"

"Too many, enough that the show will pass it's peak"

"Well I enjoyed your first apology, I'm excited about this peak now" 

"I'll bring fireworks and backup dancers and beg on my knees"

Tony snorts, amused. "Hey don't spoil it"

"Anyway, I'm sorry" it's so easy to apologize to him, which is weird because Stephen’s always hated apologizing, it means he's done something wrong and he doesn't like doing things wrong. 

Tony puts down the razor and checks himself from a few angles before splashing water on his face. "Again, no need. People on this ship call me all sorts, affectionately I hope"

Tony makes a grabby hand to the towel behind him. He passes it over. "Yeah but I'm new, I don't quite feel like I can get away with it" 

"Sometimes I forget you are. You're a good fit to the team, really made our lives easy on Knowhere" he says, muffled by the white towel. 

That makes him preen. It feels like a redemption. 

"Does it work, to always positively reinforce people? You could be yelling at me if you wanted to" admittedly he thinks Tony probably looks better yelling at anyone but him, or maybe he's to be pleasantly surprised if he really fucks up one day. 

Tony leans back on the counter and braces his toned arms on it. He should be banned from wearing tank tops. "If you only focus on people's mistakes they usually give up on trying to be good, and I don't need that on this ship. Plus, if people resented me they'd totally sell me out to Hydra or something"

Stephen laughs, feeling lighter just the way he did last time, "Yeah and that uniform would just look ghastly on you"

Tony mock ghasps, "I'm offended you don't think I could pull off anything. I've actually worn the Hydra uniform and I looked cute"

Stephen steps around so he's actually face to face with him. "I'm sure you-" 

His heel slips on something and he's about to fall right onto his ass when Tony's hand flies out and grabs his elbow. 

Tony leans above him looking amused, "Look who's looking up at me now" 

When Stephen pushes his lips against Tony's he thinks maybe the batshit one is him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what this means. Smut next chapter!


	9. Organised Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Where are you going? You can't just bang the Commander and not tell me about it"
> 
> "I didn't bang him"
> 
> "So blow job?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me editing this filth: :/

Tony stares, wide eyed. 

Stephen feels like he's burning. 

He's proud to say he hasn't done that many stupid things in his life but this is for sure one of them. He's kissed Tony, that's reality, it's a moment they'll both remember, he can't take it back. He can't take it back and he can't take back whatever is going to happen as a consequence.

Even if what happens is Tony pressing him to the wall and kissing him back.

Stephen doesn't even have time to be shocked or confused, he's been completely swept in the wave of Tony's mouth, of his hands gripping tight to his hips.

And it's great, of course it's great. He's been lusting after Tony for a while and this is what he was trying to repress from his thoughts almost every time he let himself just look at him. 

So he bunches Tony's stupid tank top in one hand and slips the other to the back of his head, feeling soft hair as they open their mouths to one another. 

Stephen didn't get to stand up straight so slowly he starts to slip down the wall. Tony follows, chasing his lips every time they slip away until they’re sat on the floor. Then he dives back in for a kiss full of everything. It's electric from his mouth to his toes and he can't think of anything other than the warm body he's clinging onto. 

"This apology is better than the last one, I gotta say" Tony breathes when their lips part. His eyes are all sin. 

Stephen hasn't kissed anyone since Christine, or done anything else for that matter. He's barely had a sexual thought until Tony waltzed into his life. So when it all comes back to him it comes back hard; the longing for flesh, the build up in his gut and the interest of his groin, the heat.

"It could be even better" he replies against Tony's lips, breathless and reduced to a singular purpose. 

Tony looks intrigued, "Really?" 

He wants to hear the sounds Tony makes when he's pleasured, he wants to see him as he unravels. 

So he pushes Tony back against the counter and settles onto his knees. 

A distant voice in a corner of his skill is calling for him to stop, telling him he's lost his mind and needs to remember what this all means. 

That voice goes mute when Stephen's eye level with Tony's crotch. It's growing interest shows within the black fabric and he's thinking a mile a minute, about how it'd feel in his hand, his mouth, inside him. 

He looks up at Tony, to be sure they want the same thing. There's still surprise mildly visible in his features, but the rest is desire. 

Tony, looking at him like nothing else exists, slips his hand in his hair and guides him closer. 

Stephen smiles against the fabric, against a hardening length. Then he pushes his tongue against it in a motion that makes Tony breathe in sharply. 

He can barely contain himself, he wants it all, immediately. 

It's been an age but that doesn't mean he's forgotten courtesies, so he reaches behind Tony and makes a condom appear in his fingers, something he's always kept in his pocket dimension as an extreme just in case. 

It makes Tony chuckle, but Stephen isn't so amused when he slips Tony's boxers down, he just wants. 

He likes that it's been so long since he's had a cock in his mouth, there's a rediscovery to the process, a tentative exploration turned eager desire to please.

And Tony seems pleased, fingers tightening in Stephen's hair as he watches. Stephen hardly takes his eyes off him as he takes more into his mouth, running his tongue down the underside. 

When Tony hits the back of his throat he lets out a strangled gasp. Stephen draws back, focuses his tongue on the tip, and then fills his mouth again.

"Fuck, Stephen" Tony breathes, his shoulders curling forward and hand tightening further, until it hurts. That only spurs him on.

Tony’s unravelling, there's no mask, no thoughts about work, it's all Tony Stark, at his mercy, lost in the heat of his mouth. 

Soon he's close, Stephen can definitely tell when he fails to hold still, bucking into his mouth. So he stops moving, it makes Tony stop too, looking down in question and the haze of pleasure.

Stephen gives him a look, and he hopes it reads. 

He finds it does when Tony starts fucking into his mouth, gently. 

If it wasn't bad enough already, the way Tony's looking at him, dark and desiring, as he uses him, makes him achingly hard. 

He doesn't do anything though, because he's lost in something he hasn't felt before. 

Tony picks up the pace, no longer worried about hurting Stephen, having found his limits, and he loves it. He loves being used. He should find it degrading, he would have said it was minutes ago, but he could cum in his pants at how mindless it is to unlock his jaw and let Tony do what he wants with his wet mouth. All he has to do is watch as Tony loses more and more control, as his pace falters over and over, as his breaths become soundless.

Stephen watches him finish, with a final push deep in his mouth and a yank of his hair hard enough to blur his eyes with tears. 

Tony's breathing heavy. The silence around that feels loud. 

They come apart and as Tony bins the condom Stephen settles back, sitting against the wall. He still can't form coherent thoughts. 

Tucked back in, Tony knees in front of him, "Aren't you a star?"

Stephen likes that, he feels the corner of his mouth turn up.

"You know you forgot the backup dancers, and the fireworks, and the begging" he continues, placing his hands on Stephens knees. 

They trail his legs slowly, thumbs scorching his inner thighs. In a dizzying wave he almost feels he might finish right in the moment. He manages not to. 

Tony smirks, looking like temptation itself, "But I'll allow it, I got to see you look up at me"

The glaze over his brain cracks when he has a hand pulling him free of his clothes, warm at his base and warmer as it drags up.

Stephen gasps when Tony thumbs at his tip. "It's so hot, I feel like I've conquered you, got you calling me Commander and now look at you"

Tony's voice leaks into him and he moans to not cum.

He pumps his hand and Stephens completely his, absorbing every hushed encouragement and compliment he gets as he gasps against Tony's lips. 

The moment before he finishes everything goes blank, he feels reduced to flesh in a shattering blissful moment of intense pleasure. 

"Tony" the name falls out of his mouth as he grabs at his shoulder, shuddering through the orgasm. 

Three days of intense training didn't have him as numb as the last few minutes. He doesn't think he could even close his mouth if he wanted to. 

Luckily Tony takes care of cleaning up, and he can have that boneless moment. 

Tony kneels again, but with a placid expression, "Feeling okay?"

"I could sleep for weeks" he replies, looking up through half lidded eyes. 

Tony chuckles. "Same"

Stephen blinks, a few times, each one bringing him closer to the present moment. 

"What did we just do?" He asks in a murmur. 

Tony's quiet for a moment, and when he opens his mouth to answer he's beaten by another voice; "Commander, Dr Banner requests your immediate arrival to the Shuttle Bay"

Tony huffs, but stands up anyway. "Thanks Jar"

Stephen watches him hurry out, probably to find trousers, and begins to build up the strength to stand. 

When he does, Tony leans into the bathroom, "Let yourself out yeah?" 

Before he can answer he's gone. 

What have they done?

It's starting to dawn on him that while that was incredible it was probably a huge mistake for more than one reason. 

When he steps out of the bathroom he makes a point of not looking at the framed picture on the desk. 

He returns to his room, feet almost dragging at how drained he is. 

"Who was it?" 

He startles, not having noticed Everett laying on his bed, holo-pad in hand. "What?" He asks. 

Everett sits up to look at him properly, "I can see it in your eyes, and hair, and lips, and I don't think that mark on your pants is water" 

He looks down at the dot and curses quietly. 

"Was it Bruce?"

Stephen ignores him, focused on the nice warm shower he's about to have. 

"Gamora? Christine?" 

He glares at his roommate and catches as his face turns to pure shock, "No"

"What?" 

Everett stands abruptly, his eyes shine, "It was the Commander wasn't it?" 

Stephen frowns. How could he guess that? "I haven't said a word"

He rolls his eyes, "Oh please, did sparks fly when your goatees aligned?" 

"You heard that?"

"I listen to all the missions, I'm the op guy"

Stephen nods and continues to the bathroom. He's too tired to be outraged at the guys' detective skills and that's probably in his favour. 

"Where are you going? You can't just bang the Commander and not tell me about it"

"I didn't bang him"

"So blow job?"

"It wasn't him"

"Really?"

"Yes" he glares, hoping it'll have the strength to make Everett stand down. 

"CIA training is worth something you know, it was him and you can't lie your way out"

"Cool" he replies, stepping into the bathroom. 

He leans against the counter and stares at himself in the mirror. He does look like he's just done a walk of shame. 

He just doesn't get it, why did he kiss Tony? And why did Tony kiss him back? And how did they let it go so far. 

And where do they go from here? 

He knows, he just knows Tony is going to act like nothings different. But he's not sure how he's going to act. 

He has to do the same, act like it didn't happen, and if he and Tony needed to discuss it they could. 

Stephen showers, and he sleeps through to the next day. 

The one day Tony's at breakfast has to be that one. He looks like another crew member in his shield t-shirt with fluffy productless hair, walking with Hope to grab food from the counter, all smiles. 

"Guys I think the Commander’s not mad at me anymore, he said hi when he saw me in the elevator" Rocket says, having paused from shovelling food in his mouth. 

Everett kicks Stephen under the table. He ignores him. 

"Congratulations Rocket, you might actually live to get off this ship" Peter pats him on the head. 

"I don't know if you're forgiven, he seems less tense in general" Natasha observes. 

This time when Everett kicks him he kicks back twice as hard. 

It's given him away, now there's no way Everett would ever believe it wasn't Tony's dick he had stuffed in his mouth. He stares straight down at his porridge. 

"I mean this is like a break right? An intermission" Shuri says. 

"Yeah, a time to regroup" 

Stephen glances up because that's Tony's voice. He's taken a seat at their table. He's on the opposite side, three seats to the left, but it still feels too close. 

"Good to see you at breakfast Commander" Everett says, smiling wide. Stephen barely holds back from kicking him again. 

"Yeah really good, I've been eating while working the past few days" he replies. He really does seem light, there isn't a tense line in his body. Stephen’s proud and mortified. 

"How's the cannon going?" He asks the table before Everett can do anything awful. 

"We're on track, we could be done in five days if we continue at this pace" Hope says, seeming happy about it. 

Five days is a long time for doing nothing. He could use a distraction. 

His eyes almost snake to Tony but he stops himself. He'll just ask Gamora to keep torturing him, that was very distracting. 

Forget it happened. 

He doesn't forget about it, spending two days training with Gamora, then studying with Thor. It helps that he barely sees Tony, since he's always outside with the engineers, but the thought of him can never just step out and walk away. As much as he tries to shove it out of the door. 

The start of day three is when he sees him, and it's not walking past each other in a narrow hallway, it's worse. They're waiting for the elevator. 

"Mornin'" Tony seems surprised by the gruffness of voice and clears his throat. 

"Does that exist anymore?"

He shrugs, "Keeps everyone sane"

Stephen doesn't have anything to say back to that so he stares straight ahead. The elevator has never taken so long, he can just picture Everetts evil face as he pushes a big red jamming button. 

"Hey I'm sorry I had to run off the other day" Tony says to fill the silence. 

"No worries"

Another long pause. Then, "Can this not be awkward? Two friends just had a bit of fun"

"Except it's more like one Commander and one… employee" he's not really sure what the balance is, just that Tony's in charge and he's not. 

"We're a family here, none of that office shit" 

Stephen makes a face at him, "You just made it worse"

"Okay, I'll start again. We were attracted to each other and you know, we have needs, no biggie"

He's right. No biggie. 

The elevator opens and Stephens more than happy to step inside, "Were? Should I be offended?" 

He's not sure if he should have said that, but that's how he and Tony usually talk, with quips. 

"Floor?" 

Stephens about to answer when he realises he's completely forgotten where he was going, he says something else instead, "Are you busy right now?" 

Tony's gaze sharpens, "Why?" 

Stephen wishes he wasn't so stupidly hot. 

"I think we should talk a-"

"Talk? I'm disappointed" he pouts and pushes a deck number, Stephen doesn't catch which.

"Commander, that was a one time thing" he insists, surprised that he's even entertaining a repeat. 

Tony smirks, and that magnetic evil he saw is back, "Call me Commander again and we'll make it two" 

"Tony. Shouldn't w-"

"I like that too" Tony smiles at him and Stephen stares, disbelieving. Tony was supposed to be responsible, diligent, good at keeping order. 

He did tell Stephen he wasn't good at following rules. 

And he must be breaking a few by even suggesting they make that kind of mistake again. 

Since Stephen joined the Avenger he's made mistake after mistake, and so it continues, because Tony is so magnetic he doesn't even feel his body moving toward him.

Forget about it, that's what he told himself, but pushing Tony against the wall and joining their lips together only makes him remember. 

They only stop kissing when the elevator opens, on the engineering deck.

There are people around, so they have to walk like they weren't just all over each other. As he follows Stephen knows he could just turn around and leave, this is his chance.

He glances down at Tony's ass in that tight bodysuit and throws rational thought out the airlock. The thought of grabbing that ass, fucking into it, it almost makes his knees buckle. 

Tony takes them through to the bridge and down some stairs to the left he hadn't even noticed were there. It says 'Engineering: subdeck' on the wall.

As soon as they're down there, under red lights and surrounded by pipes and cargo, Tony sweeps him into his arms and kisses the air out of him. 

Stephen lets himself be guided through the room and lifted onto a counter. It's new to him, being manhandled, and he's a fan. 

Their mouths unlock and Stephen kisses down the side of his neck, grazing with teeth and soothing with tongue. As it turns out Tony's ass feels as good as it looks. 

Tony takes him by his hair, pulling it to guide their lips back together in something passionate, he feels consumed by it. 

Tony's hands are warm but Stephen still shivers when they slip under his top and up the sides of his torso. He's glad they're making it a two time thing, because it's just as good, and might turn out to be better. 

"Let's find a better spot" Tony captures his wrist and he hops off the counter to follow him through a door into a bigger room with a big chamber at its centre. It's harshly lit and round.

"What is this?" 

"Our personal jail, so don't be too naughty" Tony teases. 

"More than you?" 

There's a chair bolted into the floor facing the cage, wide enough for two people, probably for interrogation. 

Tony pushes him down to sitting and leans over him to continue where they left off. Their kissing picks up heat quickly, and soon enough Stephens on his back with a hand going down his pants. Again the contact of Tony's hand makes him gasp. 

"Hey do you have a lube trick too?" Tony asks when they separate for breath, his voice heavy with desire.

Stephen reaches behind Tony's ear and shows him a condom and travel sized lube. 

Tony can't help his smirk, "Show off"

Evidently Stephen is about to be fucked, not the other way around, which is odd for him. He's been a bottom on two occasions, both in his teen years, the first was a nightmare and the second was okay. He's always thrived more on top though.

Stephen and Tony are an unlikely pairing in that way, two dominant men. He understands though that Tony is a natural leader, it's his job, he spends all his time making decisions and instructing others, so naturally he would take that through to sex. 

For a moment Stephen’s sceptical, and he wants to say it's not his style to be fingered open and taken, but then the thought of Tony doing that makes him even harder. Clearly he has a specific kink, subordinating to Tony Stark. He wouldn't to anyone else. 

He finds he was right about enjoying being worked open, because Tony starts slowly, and he doesn't pick up the pace, and once he's pliant around those two fingers he still doesn't. It's excruciating and it's driving him insane in the best way.

"You- fuck you're patient" he exhales, scratching between Tony's shoulders in desperation to get more from him. 

"Worth it" he replies, evil smile out to play. 

"You're too patient" he almost growls, trying to rock to get to that next level of sensation he's being denied. 

Tony curls his fingers and it's more, he sighs in relief that he's finally getting more. 

Then he finds the spot and Stephen yells. 

He claps his hand over his mouth and he's shocked, he'd completely forgotten how it felt and it came at him like a truck.

Tony hooks his finger under Stephens hand and pries it away, "No ones gonna hear you over the Drive Core" 

He has a point. Where they are he can hear the consistent buzz of the engine and not much else. 

Tony keeps a tight hold on his wrist and decides to go from zero to one hundred, fucking Stephen with his hand and hitting the spot every other time in a cruel plot to break him. 

And he feels like he's breaking, he wants to cry at how good it is, cry because it's not enough. 

When he can take three fingers comfortably his anticipation is through the roof, he knows what comes after three fingers, the grand prize. 

He watches Tony as he slowly pushes in. He looks like he's stepping into a hot bath, too much at first but then perfect and warming to the core. It feels the same to him. 

He was robbed in his teens, robbed of the notion of how good sex is on the receiving end. 

Again he gets to switch off and just let Tony have his way. He's convinced he would let Tony get away with anything, because he does it all so well. 

When he's lost to the feeling, when he's convinced one touch could send him spilling, Tony slips his hands behind his back and lifts him up off the chair.

Before he can ask he's being pressed up against the glass of the cage and Tony's drilling into him, nearing his peak.

The different angle is new, good, it makes him dizzy and desperate as he clings onto Tony. 

When he takes his length in hand it's only a few pumps before Stephen’s groaning into the shell of Tony's ear, coiling and spilling over. 

That makes Tony stutter to a stop as he lets out a choked off sound. 

They could have stopped after that first time, Stephen’s sure. But the second time was the nail in their coffin. It made them lost for reason, it made them seek each other at the end of that same day, to do it all again but on Tony's bed.

Three times would have been a round off, but they agreed even numbers were more satisfying and found each other again the next day.

At which point Everett knew for sure and he was starting to suspect other people did too. That is the issue; being surrounded by geniuses, spies, agents and assassins, secrets are almost a myth. 

Stephen doesn't have to be told he has a problem, he's addicted. He's addicted to Tony's hands, his words, his voice, sultry eyes and a rigid body.

He wouldn't call it an addiction if he didn't know it was wrong though, because it's wrong. So far all they had clarified was that the sex was casual, but it's not enough for him. 

Tony lost somebody he loved, a lot clearly, and Stephen needs to know if what he's doing is moving on or forcing himself to forget. 

If Tony cries into his pillow after Stephen leaves because it wasn't her, he has to know. 

The problem is whenever he wants to ask he's interrupted or he decides against it, out of fear that it'll drive a wedge between them. 

"What am I doing? This isn't even me, I didn't have causal sex when I was a hotshot doctor, how am I having it now?" 

"I mean, I'm straight, but I can critically say the Commander is a good looking guy" Everett answers, not very helpfully. 

"So? He isn't the only good looking guy I know"

Everett winks at him, "Oh stop it"

"Seriously" he still smiles a little. 

His friend sighs at the floor, then looks up at him, "Are you sure you don't have feelings for him?"

"Yes? I think I'd know if I did"

He admires Tony, for sure, but his heart doesn't skip a beat and he doesn't daydream about them going on dates. 

"Well maybe every one has that one fuckbuddy that's perfect for them" it sounds stupid but Stephen might agree. Tony is perfect for him, in that way. 

"Its so messed up that fuckbuddy and Commander belong to the same person"

"Its okay Stephen, you fuck your way up the food chain!" Everett cheers.

Stephen rolls his eyes, "You should have seen me before I got onto this thing. I was so responsible, I focused on nothing but my job" it feels like the person he is now is a clone created to shame Sanctum Master Stephen. 

"Maybe that wasn't you, maybe this is you" 

He's probably right. Stephen might be less self obsessed now but the part of him that thrived under pressure, and liked fast cars, and loved music was him. He just parked it aside to protect Earth. Therefore it must stay parked.

"Even if it is, this version of me is dead once we finish the tour" he decides. It'll be like a wild holiday, he'll be able to tell stories about how crazy this all was. To who, he's not sure. 

"What about the next tour?" 

"I doubt I'll be on another" The people on this ship, It's their job. Him, Thor, the Guardian's, they're just around to deal with the Chitauri, then they have their own vocations to return to. 

Everett really looks bummed, "That's a shame man"

"Yeah I'll miss you too" he smiles at Everett, really meaning it. 

"Dr Strange, Dr Banner requests to see you in the Armory" Jarvis says in his crisp voice. 

"Oh are you about to get shovel talk from the Hulk?"

"I hope not"

He probably is. 

When he gets to the Armory Bruce isn't working on anything. It's rare to see. 

"Hey Bruce"

"You and Tony are going to crash and burn" 

Stephen blinks, he hadn't expected the shovel to smack him that hard.

"It’s just sex what is there to burn? When we're done we shake hands and go separate ways" Tony says behind him, as he too steps through into the Armory. Seems like an intervention. 

"Tony I think you think you're ready for casual but you aren't. And it's neither of your styles"

"So?" Tony challenges. 

When Bruce opens his mouth to answer he's interrupted. 

"Commander, Agent Coulson is on an urgent call"

"One sec" he replies, staring Bruce down, waiting for his explanation. 

"Level 7" 

Tony runs out of the room so fast he barely realises it happened. 

"Oh shit"

"What's level 7?"

"The highest one"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit 'em with a sub Stephen. 
> 
> Alternative chapter titles: Grand blowjob, blowjob paradise, need for blowjob, elevators are evil: a poem by Stephen Strange, Magic Everett ball, the fuckening.


	10. Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You want to capture Loki?" Thor clarifies.
> 
> Tony nods, "That would be helpful"
> 
> "To put him where?" 
> 
> "The middle of-"
> 
> "I request he face Asgardian justice"

Stephen expects to hear that Chitauri are invading Earth when the team is called into Operations. What he hears instead is a relief and a big problem.

"The good news is we know where he's going to be. Intel says he'll be attending a gala, one that the Director is listed to attend. Usually he doesn't turn up, but he will this time, and we'll be there waiting for Loki" Tony explains. 

"What does he want from him?" Thor asks. 

"Retinal scan and fingerprint, to get into the vault where the Tesseract is stored" 

That's bad, it makes Stephen sweat. Or maybe he's sweating because it's so hot. 

"Are we going to make it on time?" Bucky questions. 

"The drive core is on max speed and we're using as many relays as we can, we'll get there with an hour or two to spare. Anyway, the plan is to not let him escape, at all costs. I want people in the party, outside the party, backup, all of it. Roughly these are the assignments; Rhodes and I will be at Nick's side, with Bucky and Stephen somewhere tucked away, as our back up. If that fails I want Thor and Steve stationed outside the venue, at a restaurant in civilian guise. Clint will be on the roof and Natasha you'll be flying a weaponized jet in if we need it. Quarries?" 

"You want to capture Loki?" Thor clarifies.

Tony nods, "That would be helpful"

"To put him where?" 

"The middle of-"

"I request he face Asgardian justice" 

"Then how do we get him to Asgard?" 

"The Tesseract"

"But if you two and the Tesseract disappear what of the Chitauri?" Tony seems irritated, probably by the insufferable heat in the room.

"They'll still attack" Gamora assures. He doesn't doubt her. 

Tony nods, "We need to hold onto him, maybe you can convince him to stop it Thor" 

"I will try"

"Okay, we'll be landing soon. Shed your layers people" Tony shews them all away.

It's hot everywhere, even the cold water tap is lukewarm. And that's why he and Everett end up sitting on their respective beds stripped to underwear. 

"Are we going to bake before we get to Earth?"

Everett shakes his head. "No the engine is designed to eject most of its heat outside, we won't get enough to actually become dinner"

"When we dock I'm walking out naked" he huffs.

"No you aren't"

Stephen chuckles, "No I'm not"

It's weird to be going back to Earth, it feels final to do so, like the tour is over. It could be, if by some miracle Loki decides to and manages to stop the Chitauri. 

It doesn't feel like it should be over yet.

"Oh perfect"

The two of them swing their heads to the door and see Hope wanting there with measuring tape in her hand. She's wearing a sleeveless dress but it still makes him feel hot just looking at her.

"Stephen stand up, arms out"

In his confusion he hesitates, so Hope yanks him to his feet and starts circling him. She measures his neck, shoulder span, chest, waist hips, everything, noting it to Jarvis as she goes.

"What is this? Am I getting an expensive suit or something?"

Hope just nods and leaves. 

It feels like no time at all before Clint's announcing that they've docked. Just like that they're walking out into the warehouse. On Earth. Home. 

Stephen would love to visit Wong and tell him about all his adventures but they're on the clock. They meet up with Steve Rogers and Agent Coulson by the elevator and the work starts. 

Tony quickly assigns everybody's roles and they divide into two groups, the people inside the party and the people outside. 

Those inside go to a tailor, a tailor that forms part of Shield HQ. It feels so normal, to be at a fitting surrounded by humans.

He and Bucky get the same guise; white shirt, slim black tie and black suit. 

The tailor presents Tony with the two of them, "Here they are, as you ordered they look as regular as a man would at a black tie" 

Stephen hadn't thought of that but it's smart, to ensure they aren't wearing any standout colours or embellishment, because they shouldn't be seen, especially not him, Loki would recognise him. 

But they can only look so regular, and that's what Tony seems to be thinking as he inspects Bucky. The guy is big, it's hard to make him blend into a crowd.

Tony nods anyway, asking the tailor to take Bucky to pick out gloves.

Then it's just the two of them, and like always it's electric. 

"I don't know…" Tony adjusts the blazer at Stephens shoulders, "You're still pretty attention grabbing if you ask me"

The comment shouldn't make him as warm as it is. "Well lucky it's not you that'll be asked" 

Tony smirks, the one that he hadn't seen before the incident in the bathroom, "Cheeky" 

He's dismissed back to the waiting area and when Tony pats him on the butt as he passes he glares over his shoulder, barely meaning it.

Rhodes and Tony are busy getting into their suits and he and Bucky don't talk as they wait, partly because Stephens too caught up in his own head.

He thinks about Bruce, and what he may have been about to say. In truth Stephen knows a bubble when he sees one, he and Tony are in a bubble and it will pop sooner or later.

They have more important things to worry about anyway.

When Tony comes out of the dressing room those important things fly out of Stephens head. He's wearing a deep navy three piece with a matching tie and he looks gorgeous in it. 

"Well? Tell me I look a million bucks"

"Stunning Commander" Bucky replies flatly. It's a good thing he did because if it was up to Stephen he'd be too enthusiastic. 

"Isn't the goal not to stand out?" He questions, because he's pretty sure his eyes are glued to him and not going anywhere else. 

He was wrong in what he'd said to Everett, sure he knows a lot of good looking guys but none of them hold a candle to Tony. Tony with his killer smile, big bright eyes and easy confidence. 

"This is a CIA event, people know me, they know I'm a diva. I think they'd be worried if I turned up in something simple" 

"How did Loki get into a CIA event?" Bucky asks next to him. 

"Because we want him to" Rhodes says as he steps out behind Tony. He's wearing a three piece too, just grey with a pale yellow tie.

They say their goodbyes to the kind tailor and leave the place to walk down underground hallways leading to a vast car park. Director Fury is waiting there with Agent Coulson and Hill. 

Fury looks menacing as ever, dressed in black with a hard expression on his face, "Is everything good and in order? Because Tony I swear if this guy rips out my only good eye I'm going to use you as my walking cane"

Tony grins and pats him on the shoulder, "We're all good" 

"Well if the doctor is here I have faith" he says, nodding at Stephen. 

He smiles and just hopes nothing goes to shit.

-

"Alright people Loki is descending the stairs, look alive" Hill’s stern voice says through the comms. 

Stephen wants to turn around but he can't risk Loki catching his eye, so he keeps his gaze fixed on the glass of whiskey he hasn't touched. 

He and Bucky are stationed at the bar, put out of the way and with their backs to the gala. Somewhere behind them is Fury, with Rhodes and Tony close by. 

"He's closing in on the Director, everyone be ready for anything"

Stephen holds his breath. 

There's a commotion, then screams. He and Bucky practically explode out of their seats.

"Steve, Loki is headed outside! It's your time. The Commander is down, don't expect Iron Man"

Down? What does down mean? 

Stephen yells to Bucky to go outside and pushes through the crowds of people to get to the source of the commotion.

Fury and Rhodes are kneeling at Tony's side. He's on the floor, seemingly breathing but out cold.

"Rhodes get Fury out of here, I'll take care of him"

Rhodes nods firmly and the two of them disappear into crowds of shocked people.

It's only a few seconds but it feels like forever before Tony opens his eyes.

"Talk to me"

"He clocked me right in the head with his staff" he groans, rubbing his temples. 

He can string a sentence, that's a relief. 

"Where is he?" 

Stephen can't tell if he's talking about Fury or Loki so he covers both bases, "Rhodes took Fury and Loki fled outside"

Tony sits up with a groan, "What are we doing here then?"

"You just got smacked in the head you can't expect to join the fight"

"Watch me," he stands up, takes off his blazer and shoves it in Stephen's hands.

He watches Tony reach into his shirt and retrieve that blue triangle he's been working on, re-attaching it over his clothes. 

Stephen was sure he wouldn't see anything cooler than a briefcase turning into an armour but that was a miscalculation. Tony taps the device twice and out of it grows red metal. It crawls over his chest smoothly, like a calm shoreline, and it continues that way until his body is completely wrapped in seamless red and gold armour.

He starts marching to the exit and Stephen follows promptly, failing to close his mouth. 

Outside Rogers is fighting Loki and it doesn't seem to be going his way. In an explosion of light Tony shoots at Loki and barrels him away as he's about to strike a bad blow on the Captain. 

Loki’s on the floor. Tony's pointing two repulsors at him and Natasha's jet descends, hovering with a huge machine gun aimed at the god. 

He's smart to surrender. 

-

For the first time they use the Conference table on the ship. They have Loki held in the chamber in the subdeck and need to discuss what to do with him before taking off. 

"I'm joining you" Rogers decides, breaking the silence around the table. 

Tony had insisted they give him a minute, in which he's been pressing his hands against the back of his head, slouched over. He must have a splitting headache from the blow he took. 

"We have plenty of fighters, you're needed here" Rhodes says when it's clear Tony isn't going to reply. 

Rogers leans back and raises a brow, "Am I? What difference could I make fighting them without support?"

"That's a very unlike you thing to say" Bucky says, eyes wide.

"I didn't say I would give up if I did have to fight an army by myself" He counters. 

God he's annoying. The way he says everything is annoying. 

"Well it's the Commanders call" he says, glancing over at Tony and hoping he's listening. People tend to say yes to things when they aren't really listening. 

Tony's silent for a while, "Steve you don't even want to see the world outside Shield, you're not ready for space" he says, voice muffled. He sounds exhausted. 

"I don't need to be, I need to be ready to protect Earth" the guy's determination is admirable, Stephen hates to admit. 

"Join us if you want, but if it's too much for you don't complain" he sighs, like he couldn't care less. 

Steve's jaw tightens as he looks at the crown of Tony's head, he moves on though, "So what are we doing with Loki?" 

"We're keeping him on the ship. His prison was built by Bruce to contain, well, Bruce. He's not getting out. And to be safe we're leaving the planet, but we'll stay in the Sol system" Rhodes supplies.

"And the cannon?" Natasha asks. 

"It just needs calibrating and testing, we got Garrus on for that" Tony says. 

"So in conclusion prepare for lift off" 

They're granted three hours of sleep before another meeting. Stephen sheds his blazer and tie and flops down on top of his sheet. He has no idea what's ahead but everything feels like it's changing so fast. They have Loki, and now Captain America, and the cannon.

All that's left is an army. 

The nap feels like blinking, as he expected. When he gets to the Operations room everyone looks like he does, uncertain. 

Tony arrives with Hill and Everett at his side, six minutes late. It's completely understandable, Stephen doubts three hours are enough to shake a clobber to the head with heavy metal. 

"Hey everyone," he offers a weak smile, then straightens, "regarding Loki, he's a bitch to break so it'll probably take a few of us to wear him down enough to get useful information. Thor is talking to him right now. After him I will, then Natasha, and if even she fails I'll throw in Stephen, might be fun to see what happens" 

He frowns at first, but then guesses that Loki was pretty humiliated by how easily he dealt with him and might give something up in a burst of anger if he saw him face to face. Unlikely, but Loki is an idiot so nothing is off the table. 

Tony takes a moment to breathe deep, he's definitely concealing pain from his features, "Other than that we need to be gearing up for a fight, probably the biggest one we've ever had. I want to see training, re-"

"Do we have time for training? We need to go after them, with a plan of attack" 

The silence in the room becomes loud with shock. Since he's joined nobody has ever interrupted Tony mid sentence during a meeting, and clearly that's always been the case by the look on everyone's faces. 

Tony is frozen in surprise for a moment too, but he doesn't reprimand Steve, he just sighs and replies calmly, "You wouldn't know this but the galaxy is huge, if we go after them and they come to Earth using a different route it'll cost us. We're going to camp out here and wait" 

Steve steps away from Bucky so he's next to Tony, taking up the space he's always given when delivering the new plans, "What if they get the jump on us?"

Stephen frowns. Clearly Tony's decision is final, and he doesn't make these kinds of decisions on a whim. He's never seen a bigger example of someone not knowing their place. He's much worse than Stephen when he first joined.

Tony continues not to face Steve, leaning on the counter and looking at the galaxy map projected in the middle of the room. The lack of attention seems to make the soldier prickle. "They won't, Jarvis can pick them up before they even enter our star system" 

"So then we need a plan of-" 

Stephen cannot believe the guy won't just give it a rest, so much so words come out of his mouth before he can decide if he even wants to say them out loud, "Hey people might call you Captain but that doesn't mean anything here"

Everybody looks at him, again surprised. Understandably, he's more the type to keep his discontent quiet. 

Tony recovers and stands tall, resuming with renewed enthusiasm. "We have a plan of attack." He glances at the man next to him after he says that. "I've already spoken to the Systems Alliance, they have a base on Mars with turrets big enough to shoot cruisers down, they're gonna help us out. We have the cannons and I'm going to assign one team to Earth and one to the airspace. Four lines of defence" he explains, making a square with his fingers. "Questions?" 

"Any word on Chitauri movement?" Gamora asks. 

"The mothership has been spotted next to the home planet, engines running, but it hasn't moved. It will soon" Everett informs after Tony looks to him.

"Okay. I want everyone in top form, if you aren't then get there" Tony says, and that's the closing statement. 

Stephen plans to take that to heart, the past few days have been indulgent. No more messing around, he needs to upgrade. 

His determined stride out of the Operations wing is abruptly blocked by Rogers' wide frame.

"The exit is that way" he says, pointing behind the man.

He doesn't move, just watches him with narrowed eyes, "Who are you?" 

"Dr Strange"

"And does that label mean anything here or…?"

Stephen almost laughs, Rogers is awful at being intimidating. "Look, I'm sure you're great at giving orders, but you agreed to join this crew and this crew is lead by Commander Stark" 

"Tony and I have been friends for years"

"That applies to a few people on this ship and they don't just butt in in the middle of a meeting" he retorts. He's sensing that the man is attempting to undermine him on the basis that he's new. 

"Sounds like we both need to check our manners" 

"Sounds like we do" he steps around Steve and leaves him behind. Asshole. 

Stephen doesn't think about Steve or Tony or anything for the next few hours. He focuses completely on the sword.

He finds that in all the reading and consulting and scanning he had completely overlooked the most obvious thing in the world. The pattern on the hilt is the same as the one printed into the sling rings. 

He safely assumes that the sword creates portals in the same way a ring does, just quicker. 

He risks testing it, using the same thought and pull of dimensional power he does when opening a portal. Five portals successfully open to places he wants them to, and eventually he picks up the method of swinging the sword for regular attacks versus swinging it for portals. It's so useful, he could transport so quickly in a fight and if he got caught in a sticky situation he'd already be wielding the blade for an attack. 

One more time he slashes the blade to make a portal to another part of the ship, the first one he can think of.

He should have thought it through better because he ends up locking eyes with a surprised Tony through the rip.

"Sorry, accident"

The corner of his mouth turns up, "I will curse your name when you accidentally open a portal to space"

"It would be a waste to curse a dead man's name"

"Whatever, are you gonna just stand there or are you going to come in?" 

He hesitates a second, then steps through into Tony's room and slashes the portal closed. "Um, how do you feel?"

"My head still hurts, but one only sits when they can't walk" he says, sitting just like Rhodey was when he said the same thing. 

"Rhodes told me that. Is that his rule? Like you have the 'leave no one behind' rule?"

"Yeah I guess"

"I know it's important to you but you could have left Rogers" 

Tony chuckles. "It makes no difference to me if he's here or not here, but he chose. I'm guessing you don't like him, if that absolute destruction in operations is any clue" 

"His face annoys me" he says, sitting on Tony's desk chair. 

Tony's sitting on his bed, with tools in hand, hologram visor across his eyes, and his blue chest device between his legs. 

He laughs, and the captivating display is cut short when he winces. "It does that doesn't it?" 

"I don't know how you're friends with him"

"We're barely friends, we never agree on anything" he replies, focused again on his task.

"He said you were. Maybe disagreement turns him on" Stephen muses, to himself mostly. He's probably right too.

Tony glances up with a raised brow, "You're not on the 'he's into me' train too are you?" 

"Well, I kinda noticed it from when we had our meeting at Shield" from the first time he saw the two together. 

"He's just protective, he's been paying close attention to me since uh, since my girlfriend died. I think he thinks I might just fall apart any minute" 

He wasn't ready but there it finally is, the woman. 

"Will you?" He asks, thinking about masks and machines and denial. 

"No, I've had time to grieve. I'm still in pain but I've built myself up. She wouldn't want me crying in a corner"

"How long were you together?" 

"Almost four years. We knew each other for ten" 

"Oh I see, so it was…"

Tony puts down his tools and pulls off his headset, dragging his hand down his face, "Serious? Yeah. I was going to leave this job after the last tour, I wanted us to live together, on Earth like normal humans, and I had this whole plan in my head; engagement, marriage, a kid or two. She was all I wanted my life to be"

He's smiling fondly. Stephen hears himself crack.

"I'm sorry"

He waves a hand at that, swatting the words away, "She died a hero, killed the man we were pursuing. I'll always be proud" 

They sit in silence for a moment. Stephen can't ignore the woman any longer, the bubble needs to burst. 

"I've been putting it off but we should talk about this right?" He gestures between them. 

Tony crosses his legs and frowns, "What us?" 

"Was Bruce right? Are you ready for this?"

Even though he asks, part of him doesn't want to know the answer, because part of him wants a 5th accident, a 5th pocket of heat and pleasure. 

"My heart aches Stephen but I can handle sex, I needed it, after over a year of neglecting that aspect of life" he replies offhandedly. 

"That's fair, I just… I feel wrong" he huffs, slouching into the chair. 

"Because you feel like you're disrespecting Pepper? Or do you feel like you're taking advantage?" Tony asks, analysing him like it's an interrogation.

"I don't know. Well, if you're doing it to forget, or you think of her… I just don't want her to be your reason for the last few days" 

If she isn't he has no idea why Tony's bothered with him, not once but multiple times. 

"She's been the reason I've stayed away from anything more than a friendship, so no she isn't the reason for this" 

So something about Stephen made Tony push aside his hesitance. 

"I guess it doesn't matter right? The tour is going to end soon and we won't see each other again" He realises out loud. 

It seems he and Tony digest that together, he’s a little surprised too. 

Once the tour is over that's it, he'll walk away from them all, from Bruce and Natasha and Gamora and Everett and Tony. 

"Is that your final decision? You wouldn't return for another tour?" 

"I doubt I could, I can only neglect my actual duties so much" he's spent a lot of time forgetting he even has another job, his main job. But it's there, waiting for his return.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I wish we had time to become better friends" Tony says, seeming sincere. 

"Well you can always treat me to coffee when this is over" Stephen jokes. 

Tony smiles, seemingly taking it to heart, "True, I'll keep it in mind" 

It makes Stephen warm to hear that. Maybe walking away isn't the end, maybe he'll have lasting friendships, maybe Tony could last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This feels a lot like a bridge chapter, things pick back up soon.


	11. Mischief and Trickery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What would you say I am?" 
> 
> "A phenomenon, one that changes everything it touches"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Limited by the technology of my location, I apologise for any more typos than normal.

When Natasha arrives at lunch they're all just finishing their meals. She strides over and rests her arms on Bucky's shoulders. 

"Loki's put all his chips on unleashing the Hulk"

Tony, who's sitting opposite Bucky, makes a mildly surprised face as he chews his last bite of food. He swallows, and doesn't look impressed as he replies, "Of course he has. Did you learn anything important?"

The tables quiet for a beat. Natasha blinks at him.

"Tony isn't that important?" Bruce of all people says. 

"Sure, if we let him out of his cage and he strangled you in your sleep. Bruce you've been on this ship for six years with no incident, I'm not gonna suddenly send you packing because Loki has his 'eye' on you"

That actually makes sense. If they all attempted to contain Bruce it'll only cause hostility anyway, which would just be exactly what Loki wants. 

"Well what do we do?" Thor asks. 

Tony smiles, and it's devious. "Bring in the bad cop" 

The bad cop is Gamora. Stephen knows this because he's been asked to tag along when Tony takes her to see Loki. Apparently he's supposed to physc him out. 

When they walk into the chamber room Loki looks happy to see him, which wasn't exactly the plan. 

"Sorcerer, I've been waiting to face you again" He strides up to the glass and grins at him. It reminds him of a snake. 

"Really? I forgot about you" he replies blandly, just to wind him up. 

Loki doesn't take that bait, but the night is young, "Say what you will, I was caught by surprise in our scuffle, I thought all humans were useless" 

"Enough excuses Asgardian, what do you want with the Tesseract?" Gamora demands, stepping closer to the glass.

Stephens back had been pressed up against that glass, as Tony fucked him for the first time. 

"What's this? The infamous Gamora, daughter of Thanos? He weeps at your betrayal"

"He has never and will never, it requires a heart"

"He had the heart to confide in me" 

"Does that make you feel good? To have a new daddy to pay attention to you?" Tony asks him, smirking. 

That gets to him. The clench of his fist and jaw are ill concealed.

"Loki you will lose, and when you do Thanos will choke the life out of you and leave you dead where you fall" Gamora taunts, saying every word slow and like it's law. 

"But if I win it'll bring me much joy" he responds, grinning again. Truly he's an idiot. 

Tony snorts, probably thinking the same thing. "Its hilarious that you think you could take over Earth, a clown like you couldn't even get sheep to follow" 

"Everybody kneels eventually"

"If you tell the Chitauri not to come I'll kneel for you, what do you say champ?" Tony offers, spreading his arms. 

"They will come, and you won't stop them"

"We stopped you" Stephen points out. For the second time he's been bested. 

"You're helpless against the will of Thanos, he will get the Tesseract sooner or later" 

Tony curses under his breath and the three of them watch his shoulders fall, "Guys… he doesn't know anything we don't know"

"You sure?" Stephen side eyes Loki, who's smile has slipped from his face. 

"Let's recount, Loki wants Earth to piss off Thor so he agrees to get Thanos the Tesseract in return for an army. There's nothing else to it" he shrugs.

"Oh" 

He's right. There's no secret plot or conspiracy, it's just an exchange to benefit two wildly different motives. One of them much stupider than the other, even if it's more harmless. 

Loki's smile is just pure evil when he leans even closer, almost kissing the glass, "You think you're so smart Stark, I cannot wait to see your face when you realise you were outplayed"

That sounds bad.

Tony smiles though, "Outplayed? How so?" 

Stephen realises what Tony's done. Even he was convinced by the act. 

Loki is desperate to feel valuable, that's why he's doing what he is, to gain value through power and get revenge on his brother for being the one that was chosen to rule Asgard. Tony took away his value by coming to the conclusion that the god was useless to them, that and being imprisoned made Loki feel the need to prove he still has some kind of control.

The question is what. 

Loki's smile drops again, because he's realised that he was played. "Take it as a surprise gift, from me to you"

"I don't like surprises" Tony says quietly, but not softly, he drops the satisfaction to look harsh.

That makes Loki grin again, "What a pity"

"Don't get too excited. Even if you could 'outplay' me, I'm excellent under pressure" 

"I'm sure you are Commander" 

When he and Tony leave Loki alone with Gamora the confidence in Tony's poise cracks severely. 

"Maybe he was bluffing?" Stephen offers as they climb the stairs up and out of the subdeck. Their steps sounds like pure metal. 

"No, I broke him, I think it was a genuine slip" Tony's shoulders are melting down with every passing moment, he almost looks like he's going to collapse onto his knees. 

"Okay so we need to calmly figure out what he has over us" 

Tony's eyes widen, "A plant. God do you think someone on board is a plant?"

"Unlikely right? He didn't even know you were after him until the gala" he replies, leading the way into the elevator. 

"He might have, spies are everywhere. I'll have Jarvis run everyone's profiles for discrepancies" he leans against the metal wall and he's never looked more heavy. 

"What about Bruce?"

Tony drags his hand down his face roughly, "I don't know. He could have a way to trigger him, but he could just be hoping for it"

They get out on the top deck and before Stephen can figure out what to do Tony gestures for him to go into his room. 

He turns around and squeezes Tony's shoulders, trying to sway him with a determined look, "Okay well remember to keep your head cool, the collective brainpower of this crew can figure it out"

He huffs and becomes smaller, or rather, his size. "They might have to count me out"

Stephen relaxes his hands but keeps them where they are. "Yeah, which is fair"

He shakes his head with a deep crease between his brows, "No it's not I’m the Commander I can't just take a break"

"Tony you can. You've almost bled to death, gotten drugged and had your head bashed in, you need a break" he insists, and he means it. If he could he'd send Tony on holiday somewhere warm, where he can relax and be human. 

Tony smirks and while cheeky it's intimate, "Doctors orders?"

"Doctors orders" he confirms, smiling back. 

He can tell Tony's frayed, that the candle is about to burn out and flood the world in darkness. Stephen just wants to hold him close and keep him from melting away. 

As if he heard his thoughts Tony steps close to him and they collide, or they don't. They join slowly into a lazy kiss. It isn't colliding at all, not like every other time. 

It makes Stephens chest tight in a way the other times didn't. It makes him warm instead of hot.

Tony takes his breath away and he chases it like he could get it back, but that's hopeless. And he's okay with that, Tony can have it, he's earned the world. 

He circles his arms around Tony's neck and Tony cradles the back of his head as tongues enter familiar territory. It's still unhurried though, every movement feels like it drags, it's accentuated and he feels it like bursts of deep base.

He feels himself being leaned back until he touches soft bedding and has Tony perched over him, slipping his hands under his top and moving to mouth at his neck. The rough skin of a mechanic's hands and the scrape of his beard together charge him. 

Tony moves back up and winces suddenly, hand flying up to grip around his forehead. "Fuck"

"You need to rest" he intends to move but Tony sprawls out and slots his head on his shoulder. 

"I haven't felt this shit since the last tour when I got stranded on a sub zero planet" he groans. 

"Sounds like something that would happen to you"

Tony falls asleep alarmingly but expectantly quickly. He probably hasn't gotten good rest for days. 

Stephen's pretty sure friends with benefits don't do this, then again Tony is at his limit. In any other occasion he would have let Stephen go on his way, like the other times. 

He cranes his neck to look at Tony, to watch his body steadily shift as he breathes. His hair smells sweet, next to the scent of metal he always carries. He wonders if he smells like metal in the downtime between tours. Maybe he's so connected to machinery it's become permanent.

-

He's standing on a wooden bridge. Under it runs a narrow stream of clear water, sliding over rock. The sound of generators he's gotten so used to are nowhere to be heard, replaced by birds and the faint buzz of the flies circling low hanging leaves. 

When he crosses the bridge the trees clear for steady hot sun. The cool breeze blowing from the east is keeping a perfect balance to it. 

Ahead of him is green grass for miles, cut by a path that passes a huge tree with a thick trunk and green leaves that grow close enough to the ground that it casts a halo of shade. Someone's sitting under the tree. Stephen would recognise those bright white boots anywhere. 

"Hey" Tony says when he ducks under the leaves to join him. 

He's dreaming, for sure, and his mind really captures the brilliance of Tony's smile. 

"What are you doing here?" 

"Just hanging. You?" He pats the spot next to him.

Stephen sits shoulder to shoulder with him, "I don't know yet"

"Waiting for something amazing to happen?" 

"I think we get enough of that on a day to day" he chuckles.

Tony flicks a green bug off his leg. "Do we? What have you seen recently that's actually amazed you?"

"You" 

Evidently Stephen doesn't have control over the conversation, he's spectating from within his body. He doesn't disagree with what he's said though. Few things surprise him after becoming a sorcerer yet Tony barrels into his life and makes his jaw hang. 

Tony tips his head back against the tree and lols it toward him. It would be a great time to kiss him. "Me?"

"I've never met anyone like you. I could say that about Thor, and Rocket, I could say that about every one but I don't know… It's not the same" 

Tony's smile is so sweet he tastes it. "It's not? Some might say I am a chattering raccoon"

Stephen chuckles, "Well I wouldn't" 

"What would you say I am?" 

"A phenomenon, one that changes everything it touches"

A leaf falls in front of them, spinning fast and descending slow. When Tony plucks it out of the air it turns purple, then starts glowing. 

"Would you look at that, you're right" he clasps Stephen's hand, squashing the leaf between their palms, "Do you feel any different now?" 

"Yeah I do"

He's felt different for a while, he's found a new magic since joining the Avenger. It's a magic in the nature of people and life and it's just as wonderful as sorcery. 

Their hands seperate and the leaf is gone, leaving it's outline burned into his palm. 

He wakes slowly to artificial light and the buzz of the ship. Holding his palm in the air above him he finds it bare of the mark. 

Stephen props up on his elbow to look at Tony where he sits in the middle of the room on his desk chair examining a conglomerate of projected documents around him. 

"You're awake, get over here" 

He knows they're holograms but he still tries to walk between them and stand next to Tony in the middle. He looks tired. 

Seeing the documents from the right way around he can read that some of them are crew member files and others are reports on recent events written by Everett or Hill. 

Tony pats his leg and Stephen gives him a look. He may let Tony have control in their dynamic but he's not about to sit on his lap.

Apparently that doesn't matter because he's taken by the hips and sat on his leg anyway. Before he can escape he has an arm around his stomach. 

"Help me read the board"

He's confused for a moment, but he figures Tony means the chess board, because Loki has made a move and they need to know which one it is so they can counter. 

They bounce ideas back and forth and Stephen melts into Tony, letting his warmth reach his bones. 

They get a little side tracked, imagining what the 'evil' version of everyone would be. Tony insists that Rocket would stay the same, and that Bruce would be a terrible villain because he wouldn't know how to be evil. 

"I think if you were evil you'd be really into yourself and turn into a dictator of some planet, somehow deluding everyone to kiss the ground you walk on" Stephen muses, sliding MJ's file out of existence. Tony can already get people to worship him, it's a blessing that he's a good guy.

Tony makes an offended sound and hooks his chin on Stephen's shoulder, "Okay. If you were evil you and I would chase each other all the time but no one would win because you're too powerful and too horny for me to actually hurt me" 

"That sounds like something evil Tony would say" it also sounds worryingly accurate. It's a wonder Loki still whacked Tony after seeing him, and in that suit. 

Tony hums and it vibrates through Stephen's body. "Maybe I'm the mole" 

"In that case you're awful at sabotage" without him they'd all probably be dead.

In retaliation Tony bites him, at the curve of his neck. It feels like his teeth injected lightning to his bloodstream. 

"We need to look elsewhere, a plant is too obvious of a method" 

The lightning reaches his brain and it speaks to him, three words;

You like Tony. 

Like thunder it rocks him. 

"Yeah" 

He was under the impression that discovering feelings for another person would be more poetic, like after Tony kissed him or said something nice.

This is no such moment, Tony continues rattling off possibilities and sorting through files and Stephen mostly hums to things to make it seem like he's listening. 

He's screwed. Falling for a guy like Tony isn't a hard thing to do, but it's a horrible mistake. Falling for Tony is like starting a fire in a cabin. 

And so it burns. 

He's pulled back into the moment when the lights in the room turn a jarring red.

They both stand and Tony looks ready to spring to action where Stephen is alarmed. "Jarvis what's going on?" 

The question is followed by silence, which really scares them both.

"Jarvis?" 

With still nothing, Tony activates his omnitool and runs a diagnostic. "Does anybody copy? What's going on and why is Jarvis deactivated?" 

"The airlock was breached, crew is evacuating the CIC but oxygen levels are dropping fast" Hope says through the comm, she sounds out of breath. 

A hologram of the ship pops out of Tony's tool with a section of it flashing red. "How? We have reinforced plating and a kinetic barrier"

Peter Quill's voice pitches through next, "I'm at the sight and it looks as if the breach was made from the inside. Oh shi- we're about to be boarded!"


	12. Dissasembled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "How did I end up here? I built this ship wanting to discover the galaxy and now the Avenger is just another one of Shield's weapons. Steve's right, we are soldiers, I just don't want to see it"

They spring to action. Stephen lets magic turn his clothes into his bodysuit and Tony pulls a helmet and tank off a shelve. He shoves it in Stephen's arms and they run out of the room. 

"Are the repair bots in action?" 

"There's a Hydra ship closing in, they shot the bots down" Hill replies, clipped. 

Tony activates his suit and it quickly pools around him. "I'm gonna go out there and fix the breach. Can anybody get to the AI core and boot Jarvis back up?" 

"On my way Commander" Shuri says. 

"I'm trying to hold the line but there's a lot of these guys, they're getting past me" Quill yells. 

So much is going wrong. 

"I'll be there in a second Quill. Everyone grab a helmet and don't take it off until I say so. And prepare for a fight" Tony shoots him a pointed look before going into the elevator and kneeling to lift and slide the floor panel. 

Stephen equips the helmet and slides his arms through the straps connected to the tank. 

"This is bad guys, they know where all the ladders into the network are, soon they're going to be all over the ship" Rhodes says. 

So it gets worse.

Tony dissapears through the floor panel and Stephen has a thought, "Bruce come in"

"I'm fine, I'm okay. We're locked in the labs" he replies.

It could be worse.

"Hill and I are in Engineering, we'll guard Loki" Everett says, short of breath. 

"Someone's coming, I need more time!" Shuri yells. 

Stephen portals into the Med Bay and forms red string to choke out the man trying to break into the AI core. 

When he goes limp Stephen tosses him aside and runs through the door to find Shuri intact. When he turns back though he sees Christine on the floor.

"Chris talk to me" he turns her onto her back and thankfully finds her breathing.

An explosion rocks above them.

"What the fuck was that?" Rhodes says.

Faintly, Natashas voice comes through, "Bruce you gotta fight it" 

"Natasha? Do we have a code green?" Tony asks. 

"Listen to me we're going to be okay" 

And so it does get worse. There's no doubt about it when a roar echoes through the ship.

There's another loud crash.

"Natasha are you okay!?" Tony practically screams. 

"I've slipped into the shuttle bay"

"Thor-"

"I'm on my way" he replies. 

Stephen finds a helmet and equips it on Christine, making sure it's on securely before running out of the Med Bay.

Clint is walking down the bridge toward the main battery. The Hydra agents in the Mess Hall don't try to stop him. 

They try to stop Stephen through, he has four guns pointed at him before he can so much as blink. 

He casts a shield to block the oncoming fire. 

"The Hulk is destroying everything down here!" Thor yells. As if to accentuate his point something loud crashing precedes him.

"Tony we could open the ramp"

Stephen doesn't register that at first, busy keeping the shield up as he approaches the perpetrators. Then it does. Rhodes is suggesting they drop Bruce into space. 

"We are not abandoning Bruce in space" he barks. 

"He'll survive"

Stephen can teleport short distances, so he teleports behind two guys and smashes their helmets together as hard as he can. It manages to knock them out.

"Jarvis is back online people!" Shuri calls. 

When he cuts the third person's gun with a glass shard they knock him over and yank one of the tubes connecting his helmet to oxygen. He summons a small pulse and it sends her into the ceiling hard enough to have her out for the count. 

"Good. I'm done patching the hole" Tony says.

"Oxygen levels rising" Stephen's never been so glad to hear Jarvis.

He's especially glad when a beam shoots from a corner and gets the last agent out of his way.

Natasha staggers out of the Med Bay and Stephens with her immediately. She's sweating like someone injured. 

Then the lights go out. 

"Oh no"

"Did the power just go out?" Steve asks.

"They disabled the main battery" Tony says, in a breath that spells doom. 

"How could they possibly-"

It clicks for Stephen, "Clint is the mole! I repeat, Barton just turned off the Battery"

"No way" Natasha breathes. A white light shines between them, she's turned on a torch in her omnitool.

Then, in a slow and weird lurch, the two of them are floating off the floor.

Natasha shines her light at her feet and slaps the side of her boot. A little light flares blue and like a magnet she's stuck back to the floor. 

Stephen turns his torch on too, and points it at the bridge where Clint is trying to sneak past.

Natasha runs for him and in a second they're wrapped in an intense fight. 

"Hulk is trying to rip through the floor, the lack of gravity isn't pulling him so much" Thor calls. 

Stephen grabs onto doorways and uses a lasso to get to Shuri, who still isn't wearing a helmet. He figures if the gravity is off the oxygen is going to deplete eventually.

"Tony!" Rhodes yells. 

"Fuck I'll eject him!" He yells back, twice as desperate. 

"Thor can you use your powers to direct him to Mars?" Rhodes asks. 

"Yes I can take a swing at him" 

Stephen tries not to think about how awful it all is as he pulls his helmet off his head and onto Shuris despite her protests. 

"I'm on my way to the Battery" Tony informs. 

Stephen comes back out into the hall to find Natasha standing over Clint as he tries to pick himself up off the floor. 

He's ready to make sure he stays down but Natasha holds up a hand to stop him. "Mind control. I think I broke him out" 

"Lock him in the Med Bay, if you aren't certain it's a risk" 

She nods and disables the gravity on Clint's boots so she can easily drag him to the Bay. 

When he turns around it's to see Tony landing in the Mess Hall. It seems his suit has its own gravity too. "Where's your helmet?"

"I gave it to Shuri" 

He doesn't argue that, walking past him to get to the Battery. He follows. 

There's a wide pipe in the wall, noticeable because it's loud and sounds like a vacuum cleaner. 

"Fuck" Tony lurches to it and uses his torch to make sure he's covering the whole thing with nanoparticles. 

"Your suit has oxygen right?" Stephen says when a percentage floats up from Tony's wrist, a dangerously low one. It can only be that. 

"Has everyone got personal oxygen? Levels are critically low" Hill reports.

"You need to give me light" Tony tells him, jumping down into the rows of machinery that makeup the Battery. 

Stephen follows, torch pointed wherever Tony moves. He watches him lift a flap and push a big blue button. Nothing happens. 

"Oh no" Tony jogs down to the back row of machines and crouches in front of a row of glass disks built into some kind of generator. He pulls one of them and it doesn't move. 

"He disabled the relays, looks like all of them" Tony says, powering up a panel and imputing a passcode. 

"That's gonna take a while to fix" Clint says, sounding raw.

"If only you didn't fuck up in the first place" Rocket clips back. 

Tony pays no mind, pulling out the first disk and opening it up to access the wiring inside.

Stephen keeps his torch steady, even as he begins to feel short of breath. If he starts to panic it'll only be worse, so he tells himself it's fine and breathes as regularly as he can, but not too deeply. 

In three minutes Tony rewires the disk and it flares a bright blue. He pushes it back into the row and pulls out the second disk.

Stephen blinks and it doesn't sharpen his vision, he's just seeing blotches of colour. He was holding back from using his holo buble but he can barely feel his knees. 

When he deploys it Tony stops to look at him. "Report on oxygen?" 

"Practically nil. Hurry up with the Battery" Rhodes replies.

"Stephen doesn't have a helmet"

He really doesn't. He's not sure what he expected from the holo bubble but it's only making the smallest difference, he still feels like his chest is constricting. 

"I have a spare one and I can help with the Battery but I'm stuck in the Armory with two guys outside the door" someone else says.

"Gamora and I are coming Scott" Steve assures him. 

Tony gets back to the work at hand and finishes the second disk a little quicker than the first, leaving two to go. 

Stephen doesn't know if he'll survive two more. 

It's that thought that joins him as his arm drops, pointing light at the ground. It swims in his eyes as he looks down at it.

The fall isn't hard, without gravity he just becomes limp in air. It's a peaceful fade.

When he comes to there's so much light. He can see numbers and information at the corners of his vision, bright and steady like they're burned onto his retinas. 

Beyond that is darkness, except a white light. He lifts his strangely heavy body to look at Tony crouched next to him. He's tinkering in the last disk, one handed as he uses the other to shine light into it. 

The soft glow of the bubble around Tony's face makes him suddenly very aware. Tony isn't wearing the suit, there's no oxygen. 

Stephen looks down at his lap and finds his legs are covered in that signature red and gold he's come to be so impressed by. 

Tony's hitch of breath is as loud as a gunshot, and in horror Stephen watches the quiet way in which his body goes lose. 

He claws at his chest, desperate to get the suit off him and put it back on Tony. 

When that doesn't work he grabs at the plate over his face.

When that doesn't work he yells Tony's name. 

Soon it'll be too late.

Another light joins them in the room and someone walks inside. Three people. 

The second person, Gamora, rushes to Tony's limp body and starts putting a helmet on him. 

Everything after that is like watching a tragic movie on a damaged projector with no sound. 

Lang fixes the relay, everything powers back up, Tony slowly comes back to them, they discover Loki is gone and Thor was sent crashing like a meteor into Mars, they flush the ship of any leftover Hydra and sit around a table that feels too empty.

"He destroyed us" Tony says, breaking a silence that felt eternal. 

"Don't say that, not you" Natasha pleads. 

She's right to. If Tony gives up it's over. 

"We can't give up" Steve insists, and Stephen agrees. 

Tony's chair breaks the quiet like glass but when he walks out of the room it doesn't make a sound. 

Stephen watches as Steve follows. It's hard to know what to do, how to feel. 

Again Tony almost died. Loki escaped. Bruce is gone. Thor is gone. 

They've been broken.

Stephen leaves too. He has nothing to say to the team. Steve and Tony covered it, they're destroyed but they can't give up.

When the door opens he spots Steve and Tony talking by the galaxy map. 

"We are not soldiers" he hears Tony snap, holding Steve in a stare with an expression that can only be described as an open wound. It even cuts Stephen to see it. 

He leaves Steve behind, going into the elevator. Stephen catches it before the door slips closed.

"How are you feeling?" Tony asks him, seeming comfortable with his intrusion. 

"Fine. You need to stop saving my ass"

He leans back against the wall and looks at nothing. "It's my job to keep you, all of you safe" 

"And you did your best" he insists, because Tony needs to know he did what he could. 

He doesn't like that though, instead he bursts with frustration, "I ejected Bruce like he was fucking trash! He's one of my best friends"

They're quiet. The elevator opens on the top deck. "Did you hear news from Mars?" 

"Yeah he's okay" Tony replies in a sigh. 

"So there's nothing to worry about"

Tony stops in front of his fish tank. The blue lights illuminate his sunken expression. "I failed" 

"No you-"

"I said I failed. Loki really did outplay me. I didn't even notice anything was wrong with Clint, contact lenses is all it took to fool me"

"Tony-"

He turns abruptly and stomps down the three steps into the middle of the room. "How did I end up here? I built this ship wanting to discover the galaxy and now the Avenger is just another one of Shield's weapons. Steve's right, we are soldiers, I just don't want to see it" 

"You save lives, that makes it worth it right?"

Tony falls to sit on the edge of his bed and cradles his face in his hands. "Sure it's great, but I don't want to be a hero" 

"Nobody that wants to be a hero is actually a hero" 

"Everyone thinks I'm so perfect for this job, enough that I'm a damn spectre." He groans. When he looks up Stephens heart aches, "I'd give it up, I… I lost Pepper, and today I almost lost you. I just want to be selfish, go to Xandar maybe, forget the Chitauri and Thanos and just live each day without worrying someone close to me is going to die" 

Stephen smiles, "But you won't will you?" 

"Of course not, we have to stop them" he cards his hands through his hair aggressively, until he looks windblown. 

Even distraught he's beautiful. Even distraught he's too good to ever run away. 

Stephen pulls up the desk chair and by the time he's sat in it he's decided it's time to confess, "Tony you may have almost lost me but I almost lost you, again. And… the worst hasn't even come"

He lets out a broken laugh, "Don't remind me"

Tony's reminded him what it is to be brave. Bravery is facing the things that scare you because it's the right thing to do. 

So he takes a deep breath and kisses Tony softly, incase his fears come true. "I have everything and nothing to lose by saying this but I… I like you"

Tony leans back, "You mean like you enjoy me as a person or you have feelings for me?" 

"Both" 

He holds his breath. Tony just stares at him with an unreadable expression, long enough that Stephen has to suck in air. 

"Well that's not good"

"What?"

Tony's shoulders fall even further when he sighs, "You understand, I don't think I can go down that path again. And it's possible we won't both get out of this alive" 

He's Dr Strange, so he doesn't look away, or break. He nods. "Okay"

It hurts. 

"I'm sorry I- did you expect a different answer?" 

That's a good question. What did he expect?

He expected bravery to be something that's always rewarded, by the simple fact that is difficult but right.

He doesn't understand bravery at all. 

"I don't… I don't know what I expected. But of course you would say that" he doesn't speak those words with any malice, because they're the truth. Tony looks hurt by them though.

They're broken out of the moment when Rhodes sprints into the room, almost falling down the steps in his haste. 

"Coulson's dead"

Tony stands up slowly, like the ground might fall out beneath him. "What?" 

"Loki has the Tesseract"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... F in the chat.


	13. The Wire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I have your back, always"

When Stephen, Rhodey and Tony spill out into the CIC the ship shakes.

"Commander get to the bridge, you need to see this" Everetts voice sounds like it's falling out his mouth. 

The three of them run over there and gather behind the pilots chair to see a blinding beam shooting up and past them. Everett angles the ship up so they can see the end of it. 

A giant ship shaped like a metal flower is coming through a portal in space. It's sinister, like watching doom approach. 

"The fight has started! I repeat, the Chitauri are here. Rocket get to the bridge now!" Tony barks.

"Mars team get to the Shuttle bay" Rhodes adds, mouth still open as he takes in what's coming toward them. 

"That's big" Stephen says, mostly just to pick up his jaw. It's going to be a long fight. 

"It was nice working with you all" Everett says, kicking the ship into reverse so they have a better line of sight. 

Stephen squeezes his shoulder. 

"Alliance do you copy? All shooters mobilize" Tony says, game face on. Stephen admires it more now that he knows Tony doesn't enjoy fighting. 

"Yes sir" 

That done, Tony turns away from the window. He taps his chest and waits for the suit to completely form around him. "Air force get to the airlock" 

Stephen's on the air force, so he opens a portal to retrieve his cloak and let it settle on his shoulders. Then he opens one to the Armory and takes the scalpel out of its case, if there's any time to use it it's now.

"Tony"

He turns to Rhodes' voice and they watch as things start to fly out of the ship. It's far so it's hard to make them out but what Stephen can see are a series of huge creatures that look like flying eels.

"Rhodey take care of our girl" Tony says. Metal clangs when he slaps a beam behind him. 

Rhodes' expression is grim. "I should be out there with you" 

"And I should be sipping ice tea in Okinawa but here I am. Don't die" 

Tony hugs Rhodes and it doesn't look comfortable with the armor they're both wearing but it's still meaningful. 

"No you don't die"

"Never" Tony grins, then leads the way out of the bridge. They almost bump into someone on their exit, "Rocket. The guns are good to go right?" 

"Yeah Garrus did a lovely job, let's blow them to hell" 

Tony smiles down at him, "It's been a pleasure to work with you"

It shouldn't make sense for him to say that, after the bomb incident the two always ended up butting heads, mostly literally. But from the start Stephen could tell Tony respects Rocket's genius and since Rocket joined he's seen that's reciprocated. 

"I'll say the same when my paycheck comes through" after a laugh Rocket scurries into the bridge.

Stephen doesn't like that Tony's already made two fatalistic statements.

Quill, Drax and Gamora greet them at the airlock. Thor's absence sticks out.

"Do we get a motivational quote Commander?" Gamora asks as she secures her helmet. 

"No. You don't need one, I believe in you all" 

"I think I might weep" Quill wails dramatically. 

The guardian's step through into the airlock space and Tony lingers with him. He looks so determined, his eyes shine with it. 

"Tony…"

Tony pulls him in by the shoulder and embraces him. "I have your back, always" he whispers. 

That's enough for him. 

"And I've got yours" 

He gets a dashing smile before Tony activates the head of his suit. "Okay people let's go!" 

The plan is for them to hold the line if Chitauri get past the Mars and Avenger attacks. They have to stay behind the fire.

Stephen gets why they had to spend so much time on the canons. They charge up and when they fire the beam completely obliterates a cluster of Chitauri.

The fight might not be so bad afterall. 

When Tony gets blasted in the back he realises he's spoken too soon. 

As he throws a lasso to grab Tony by the ankle and reel him back to the group the Guardian's launch an assault on the culprit. Loki himself.

He's riding some kind of scooter and yelling something at them with a stupid smirk on his face. Evidently no one ever taught the fool that sound doesn't travel in space. 

Gamora uses her jetpack and lands on his back, ready to slash his head off his shoulders with her godslayer. He manages to teleport out of her grasp and appear right in Stephen's face.

The cloak yanks him back and Drax jumps in, dragging Loki down by his cape. 

Ahead of them the space is becoming saturated by Chitauri. As well as the heavy weapons are working some are starting to leak through. 

There's a lot of talking in his ear, from their ship and Mars, but Stephen blocks it out to focus on the task at hand.

Tony's covering the tree of them, blasting back oncoming aliens. Stephen takes hold of his scalpel and finally gets to use it to its potential. He cuts open portals, flying through them to cut down enemy after enemy, leaving severed limbs and punctures with entry and exit wounds. It's remarkably smooth, quick and effective.

A spear comes his way. He blocks it with the sword and uses his other hand to cast a disk and throw it into the creature's chest. 

He turns to another incoming Chitauri but Tony beats him to the punch, flying under him and shooting up for an uppercut that dismounts the alien off of its scooter. 

Yet again when more resistance comes Tony's hand morphs into a long sword and he slashes through both aliens in one move.

"Stealing my thunder?" Stephen asks, flying closer to him. 

Tony's laugh will always do things to him, "I don't know if I can, clearly your thunder is pretty spectacular"

A sharp and sudden pain spreads in his shoulder and when he spins, word swinging, it gets stuck in Loki's leg. 

In a blur of red something takes Loki away and barrels toward Mars. 

The five of them float still for a moment, until Tony's voice breaks the silence. "Was that Thor?" 

"If it was he took a problem off of our hands" Gamora says. 

"Don't relax yet, there are way too many of them, if they don't get through to Earth their ship will" Rhodes pitches in, grim as ever. 

Everett curses, "That's bad. That thing could close it's wings and swallow Russia" 

"I'm gonna jump back on the ship so we can strategize. The rest of you hold the line" Tony says, waving and shooting like a star back toward the Avenger. 

Dutifully the rest of them hold the line. They have a good balance, with Gamora and Drax as short range and he and Quill as masters in short and long. Nothing gets past them. 

But as many Chitauri as they take down they feel never ending. And toward them comes one of those giant eels. 

Stephen doesn't even know where to start with it. Luckily it turns out he doesn't need to know, Gamora lands on the thing, hooks her sword in the corner of its mouth and runs down it's length, cutting through even it's armour until it's split open like a fish. It's the most incredible yet disgusting thing he's ever seen. It's insides float into the air, or lack thereof.

Unfortunately the creature's armour was hiding a long row of Chitauri soldiers and they all pounce on her. 

They fly to help and Stephen is of the fortune of being stopped. An ugly face with unsettlingly human teeth and far apart eyes is right up against the glass of his helmet.

It kills his shoulder but as he's being grabbed by the thing it's his only hand available to grab the scalpel and shove it through the creature's stomach. 

"The ship's turning around" Everett says. 

Stephen throws the limp body off him and watches as the juggernaut turns away from them slowly. "Why?" 

"Surrender?" Drax questions. 

"I really doubt that, word on Loki?" Hill says. 

"The Hulk smashed him up pretty bad, we have him" Natasha informs. 

"Commander come in" Rhodes says. 

"Why are you asking him to come in? Isn't he on the ship with you?" Quill points out as he shoots stragglers, stealing the words from Stephen's mouth. 

Rhodes is silent for a beat, "No, he hasn't come back on since he left with you"

That's not good. 

"Tony?" 

Stephen's worried, he might die from worry, or from the amount of Chitauri they have coming their way. 

"Jarvis? Report" Hope says.

Stephen can tell Gamora is tired, after that big stunt her attacks are slow. Quill flies in to back her up thankfully.

He doubts they're going to be able to hold the line much longer, not when she's in that condition and he can feel his power draining with all the portalling he's been doing. 

"The Commander's vital signs are stable" Jarvis replies. It's a breath of fresh air. Tony's okay. 

"Where is he?" Steve asks. 

The AI is silent for a moment, an unusual thing. "I cannot say"

He's worried again.

"Tony I know you can hear us! What bullshit are you doing?" Rhodes yells.

"Tell us you're not on the ship" Bucky says, sounding more vulnerable than Stephen's ever heard him. 

Stephen can't breathe, awaiting to hear his voice. But he has to, he has to or the masses of Chitauri will overwhelm him.

"Everett, what you said about the ship closing up… it made me think of the Citadel, it closes, like a flower" Tony says, calmly, like they weren't all just screaming at him. 

"Right" Everett says after a moment of silence. 

Stephen has no idea how everyone is so quiet, or maybe they're all like him, trying with all their will not to scream for answers. 

Tony continues with his calm tone, "So I had a thought, if this ship closes too I could end it all here"

"What are you saying?" Nat questions.

Stephen grabs an oncoming spear and twists it hard enough for the creature's wrist to break. When he turns the spear and plunges it in the aliens neck he does so too aggressively. 

"That I've found out it does close, and that if I close it on a mass relay it'll malfunction and overload, killing everything onboard"

"Including you." Rhodes says delicately, "Because you're on it aren't you Tony?"

A blade plunges into his side like a cruel accent. It's not as painful as the reality of what he's just heard. 

Tony sighs, "They have… So many pods on this thing with Chitauri waiting to be let out. We won't last"

When Stephen holds an alien head in his hands and twists until he feels a break he starts to taste blood in his mouth from hard he's biting the inside of it. 

It's a suicide mission and Tony's on it. 

"Don't be a hero Tony. Get off the ship, please" Steve pleads. 

"I'm not being a hero. I'm cutting the wire" 

The ship's close to the Sol relay, it's wings are already starting to draw in.

Stephen forgets holding the line, he doesn't care, he pushes the cloak to its limit. He has to stop him. 

"Tony don't!" He screams. 

Chitauri get in his way and he takes them down without a guilt, slicing heads clean off and triggering magical explosions. He has to get to Tony. 

"Stephen I don't want your memory of me to be a lie. I do have feelings for you and I didn't have the guts to say it" 

It's hard to see through tears. Claws grab his nape and pull at the cloak. Something sharp cuts through his palm. None of it matters. 

"You're not dying here!" 

Tony laughs, and it's light like a leaf falling from a tree. "If I make it out I promise I'll take you on a date, anywhere you want"

He wishes he could be happy in the moment. He wishes he could smile and gather Tony in his arms and ask to be taken somewhere ridiculous.

And Tony would take him, he knows Tony would take him anywhere. 

But he's being swamped, he's losing sight of the ship, his shields are breaking down with the weight of Chitauri and his grief. 

"I'll always be here, for all of you, no matter what" 

He's not sure how long he's desperately clawing to survive within a hoard of Chitauri but eventually blinding light shoots around them like beacons. 

Then the Chitauri all stop. They fall limp. 

Stephen pushes the bodies aside and sees the wreckage in the distance. 

The ship Tony was on, in pieces.

Natashas voice breaks the ringing silence, "Tony are you there?" 

The silence rings once more. It hurts more than the wounds covering him, it hurts more than every time Dormammu killed him. 

He refuses to accept Tony's gone. The world, the galaxy needs him. He's a sheppard of the people, he's smart and noble and an inspiration for everyone to be better. He's Tony. 

Everett is already ahead of him, having cranked the ship and flown so fast into the wrekidge it looked like teleportation. 

Stephen cuts open a portal into the bridge and finds himself with Rhodes, Rocket and Everett as the latter deploys a mechanical arm out of the bottom of the ship to pluck something out between the destruction. A shining red and gold body. 

Stephen portals to the Shuttle bay and watches Tony as he's elevated into the interior of the ship. Walking toward him is mindless, so is collapsing to his knees next to him.

The suit is burned in parts, leaving exposed holes. If he survived the explosion he would have lost oxygen. 

Rhodes falls at his other side and curls his metal fingers under a hole in the cheek of the armour and rips the faceplate off. 

Tony looks peaceful, too peaceful. Unmoving. 

Stephen blinks and he can see black dresses and somber faces, he can see flowers and hear speeches. 

He should blink and see Tony's smile, see him stepping out of his car in that stupid leather jacket to take him on a date and hear him laugh. He wants it so desperately his heart folds in his chest. 

He's about to try CPR when Rocket fires his massive four barrel machine gun at the ceiling. 

Tony jerks to life.

"Wh- what happened? I hope no one kissed me- Rocket are you shooting holes in my ship!?" He gasps out, eyes darting around. 

Rocket chuckles. "I knew that'd work"

Tony opens his mouth to reply but Stephen swoops down and captures it in a kiss. It's almost painful but he could care less, Tony's alive. He's alive. 

"Do something like this again and you'll regret it" he whispers when he has the strength to separate their lips. 

Tony grins and if that doesn't make Stephens heart leap him leaning up to steal another kiss does, "Understood Commander"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! I really enjoyed building up the characters in this world. 
> 
> Want to discuss the story? Inbox me on Tumblr at: wifeofstark
> 
> I already have another thing written so I'll be back very soon ;) <3

**Author's Note:**

> So? What do you think? Drop it in the comments x
> 
> I'll be updating as frequently as I can, see you soon!
> 
> (subscribe/follow @wifeofstark on Tumblr for updates.)


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